Yume Nikki: Before the Storm
by Some kind of gimmick
Summary: Before the Storm is a story that tells of events before Yume Nikki along with providing an look into the various characters.
1. Introduction

**Yume Nikki: Before the Storm**

A story of Madotsuki's past

_The clouds roll forth as lightning strikes around the building and thunder scares all but the brave few who are determined enough to continue with their journey, despite the many hardships they will undergo._

Yume Nikki: Before the Storm is basically a possible telling of Madotsuki's past few years before her time in Yume Nikki along with a look in the psyches of the other characters, including Monoko, Monoe, Poniko, Masada, and plus others as we trudge on through this adventure I've set up.

Bear in mind, however, that not only will there be a few parts of graphic content, but this is my first actual story I'm attempting to write out.

Please provide constructive critique.

Edit: Chapters 1 through 12 have been reformatted to accommodate the later chapters a bit better, seeing as I switched from the lazy "all blocks, no separation of dialogue" to something more consistent.


	2. Chapter 1: A Strange Encounter

Chapter 1: A Strange Encounter

"I can't believe it's finally over. This first day of teaching students and putting up with those guys in the lounge was daunting enough, but now I have all these forms and bills to deal with as well." A frustrated Masada thinks as he gets out of his small white car with a black case. He steps toward the apartment building tiredly while looking at the sunset to the west.

"After all this is done, though, I might be able to play a few numbers on the old piano before the day is gone." He thinks as he enters the building and walks down a hall of doors, he notices a single 100 yen coin on the ground.

"Finders keepers." He thinks as he leans over to pick it up. When he attempts to fiddle with the lock on his apartment door that was simply labeled "116", he mutters to himself loudly and attracts the attention of a young girl nearby. He opens the door quickly and, after hearing the sound of something being hit by the door, stops in his tracks. He looks on the other side of the door and sees a girl covering her nose in pain, with a few rivulets of blood coming down her hands and face.

"Oh no! What have I done?" He thinks to himself, with beads of sweat dribbling down his neck.

"Miss, I am so sorry and I- Madotsuki?" He curiously asks after remembering who she was. Her eyes are welling up with tears and she is now sobbing quietly.

"Madotsuki, what are you doing here?" He asks with concern. Masada remembered Madotsuki from a morning music class when she was having trouble playing certain parts of a song with her flute. After carefully showing her the right way to play certain notes and building up some momentum, she looked to be on the right track. Masada quickly snaps out of his memories and says, "We'll need to get that bloody nose taken care of immediately." He beckons her to follow him into his apartment. After following him into his kitchen, Madotsuki wipes up her nose the best she could.

"I didn't know you lived in this dump." She says in a still shaken tone.

"I don't have much money." He replies, grabbing some toilet paper from an unwrapped roll and wadding it up to fit into her nostrils.

"This is the second time you've helped me today." She says happily. He puts the remaining toilet paper on the counter when he feels that Madotsuki has wrapped her arms around him.

"I like you a lot." She states in a low, calm tone.

"Madotsuki, please return home, your parents must be getting worried." He says to her.

"Okay." She replies bluntly as she exits the kitchen and soon the apartment. Masada now left with his papers on the kitchen table, heads to his bedroom to change clothes.

Meanwhile, shortly after returning to her room, Madotsuki gets into her desk chair and writes into her diary, "August 16th, 2008; I never would have expected Sensei Masada to be living in this ragged building. He was a nice enough man to help me with not just my failure in music, but also with the nose bleed he gave me on accident. Also, Monoe's friend Poniko has just moved in on the 2nd floor. I wonder how that will play out."

Soon, knocks are heard from the apartment door. Madotsuki opens the door and finds Monoko with her usual happy grin.

"Hi, Mado! Want to head over to my room and play more videogames?" She asks in a joyous tone.

Madotsuki nods and says, "Wait a moment, let me get done with something."

Monoko nods in reply and whistles to herself while Madotsuki heads back to her room. She writes into her journal hastily, "By the way, Sensei, Your fly was undone, but I won't mention that to anyone."

She, then, rushes out the door to join up with Monoko.


	3. Chapter 2: Those beaks, man

Chapter 2: Those beaks, man...

Monoko looks at Madotsuki and notices her nose. Pieces of toilet paper were in her nose and there were still red markings around her nostrils.

"Mado, where did you get the bloody nose?" Monoko asks curiously. Madotsuki was silent as they soon reach the ground floor.

When they approach a door labeled 107, she finally replies, "It's nothing."

Monoko, realizing that she might be touching uncomfortable material, knows that it is best not to mention Madotsuki's nose again. As they enter the room, they see a woman with long black hair standing in the hallway, looking at her watch.

"Hi Monoe!" Monoko says. Monoe instantly turns her head towards the two and says, "Oh hey. Poniko is in the bathroom, incase if you were curious why the door was closed."

Monoko and Madotsuki walk passed Monoe and approach the entertainment center, complete with a PS2, an n64, an SNES, and a crummy television set that dates back to the late 80's. Monoko plugs in the SNES, turns on the TV and, while fishing for a game cartridge inside of a little rubber container, asks Madotsuki, "Want to do some Contra 3?"

Madotsuki knew that Monoko, despite being an overly energetic school girl, was ridiculously skilled at the Contra games and that she would be able to make up for any slack on Madotsuki's part in two player mode. Madotsuki simply nods and the two sit on the couch as the title screen pops up. Monoko, knowing that Madotsuki isn't too good at this game, sets the difficulty to normal and the lives to 7.

They soon begin and, after beating the first stage, Madotsuki says, "Monoko, I must go now."

Monoko, surprised by such a thing, replies in a disheartened tone, "Oh... okay... good bye, Mado."

Madotsuki walks out of the apartment room and, as curious as ever, walks over to Masada's room to the left. When she reaches out to knock on the door, she feels a very sharp sting of pain. Nevertheless, she knocks a few times and waits a bit. The pain gets even more intense and Madotsuki is clutching her head in agony, tears welling up. She lets out a cry of misery as the door opens to reveal a more casually dressed Masada, simultaneously both surprised that Madotsuki is at his door again and horrified by the painful sounds she is making while grabbing her own head.

"What the-?" He asks in confusion very shortly before her eyes close and she falls to the floor with a thud. Her existence feels as though she had been warped to a different world altogether.

She now finds herself on a road that leads to the west and to the east towards a tunnel. Looking to the west, she sees a man walking to her.

"Hey little girl, how the hell did you get here?" He asks her. Although offended by the tone he had, she wouldn't mind trying to find a way out to get out of here.

"I don't even know where I am!" She replies.

The man, giving Madotsuki a strange look, asks, "Listen... do you hear that?"

Madotsuki is now on the look out to hear strange sounds. Almost immediately afterwards, a person jumps down from a tree and slowly rises up. Its face has a beak, speckled red with blood, along with purple eyes pointing at random, possibly implying a crazed creature with a bloodlust. The man, before he could scream, was gripped by the neck and soon was being slashed in the chest with powerful talon-like claws.

Madotsuki, fearing for her life, runs eastward as fast and far as possible. Before entering the tunnel, she looks behind herself to see the bird creature cackling maniacally before attempting to land a finishing blow. She rushes into the tunnel quickly and keeps running until she can no longer move. She sits down and attempts to catch her breath, believing that she is safe. After a few minutes, she rises up from the ground and wonders where to go, when a shrill cry is heard and she is jolted with shock.

She now awakens and finds herself in a bed. Not knowing where she is, she climbs out the left side of the bed and sees a door to her right. Feeling like she has almost nothing else to lose, she opens the door and sees Masada at a piano, playing a soft melody that calms her down significantly. As she walks toward him, he stops playing.

"Are you okay, Madotsuki?" He asks without turning around.

She replies bluntly, "Yes." Masada turns around; wearing a black long sleeved shirt and black pants, and has a look of relief on his face.

"I'm wondering... why is it that when you show up, bad things happen?" He asks.

Madotsuki giggles a little and says, "I guess someone doesn't want us to be together."

They both chuckle a little and soon hear someone knocking on the door. Masada gets up from the piano bench and walks over to the door. He opens the door to find Monoe and Poniko asking, "Hi Sensei Masada, can we come in?"

He nods as the two girls walk in to find Madotsuki in the entertainment room.

"Madotsuki?" Monoe asks. Madotsuki is sitting in a chair, eyes closed and a happy expression on her face.

"...Sensei... you don't like girls your own age?" Poniko asks. Masada gently nudges Madotsuki's shoulder and says calmly, "Madotsuki, it's time for you to get up."

She slowly wakes up and notices Monoe and Poniko.

"You're Poniko?" She asks the blond haired girl.

"Yeah, and you're the Madotsuki girl that Monoe talked about once, right?" Madotsuki nods and they both shake hands.

Though Poniko was only trying to get a rise out of her, Madotsuki already started to dislike Poniko the minute they officially met. Madotsuki said good bye to the two girls and Masada, then proceeded to go out the apartment door. She walked up the stairs and, on the fourth floor, walks over to the door labeled 403.

After entering the door and going through the hallway to her room, she saw that the clock said 7:12pm. She sits on the floor and plays some NASU before being called to dinner. Meanwhile, Monoe and Poniko walk out of Masada's apartment with some CDs while Masada is sitting at his kitchen table, pondering what to do next.

"I don't know why that little girl is obsessed with me." He thinks to himself as he taps his finger on the table.

"Oh well, time for food. I wonder if I still have more noodles..." He thinks as he gets up and walks to his pantry.


	4. Chapter 3: The Department Store?

Chapter 3: The Department Store?

It's nearly 9:30pm and she has just entered the bathroom to take her nightly shower. She slowly removes her shirt and her skirt. Then, she takes off her panties and undoes her bra. Before stepping into the shower, she takes a brief moment to examine her body in front of the mirror. Noticing that her breasts are not developing yet nor does she have any pubic hair, she wonders when it will happen and how subtle the process will be. Stepping into the shower and starting the water up, Madotsuki starts wetting her hair. She takes the bottle of shampoo, pours out a decent blob in her hand, and starts the scrubbing. She combs her hair as to make sure that any shampoo left will be removed. A little more washing here and there, and she stops the water.

Madotsuki grabs one towel to dry off her body and another towel to dry her hair. Eventually, after scrubbing away at her body with the first towel, she puts it back on the towel bar and wraps the second towel around her hair while putting on some pajamas. She exits the bathroom fresh, clean, and smelling of strawberries. Heading back into her room and turning on her television to play more Nasu, she suddenly starts feeling a little more tired than usual after catching her 6th or 7th eggplant. She yawns while turning off the television and console. She also removes the towel from her hair and decides to comb it, assuming that her hair is dry enough not to make the pillow wet. She stumbles to her bed and plops herself onto it. Pulling the covers and turning off the light, she closes her eyes and tries to sleep. After a little while, she feels as though she is being drifted away to a whole new realm.

She finds herself in a weird department store, with all these strange people walking nearby. After noticing that she is still wearing her day clothes and sees a door nearby, she walks to it. Inside, she finds a bird creature behind a counter and an even stranger sight: a man with a red E for a face.

She approaches the bird creature, which looks slightly like the monster that killed the guy on the road.

It speaks, "What do you want?

Madotsuki asks, "What kind of creature are you?

It replies in an agitated voice, "I'm a toriningen, you fucking retard; now what do you want?"

The E man says casually, "Don't mind the insults, her kind aren't too social." Madotsuki nods at the E man and sees another door nearby. She walks close to the door, but feels something tugging at her shirt.

"Whoa there, little girl, the boss wouldn't be happy if you went into his room without permission!" The E man says, but the toriningen glazes over and says, "Go in there and bring me something. That way, you will have earned the status of 'I guess I'm not just a worthless pile of shit.'"

Madotsuki is split between going in and staying out, but she inhales deeply and prepares to enter the door.

"Good luck, maggot. You'll need it." The toriningen says while lighting up a cigarette. Madotsuki opens the door softly and sees a figure similar to the E man. This guy appears to be sleeping on a couch next to a flute on the ground nearby. There is also a sack of something in his left hand that he is gently holding onto. Realizing that the sack is probably too hard to get without waking the guy up, Madotsuki grabs the flute and leaves the room.

After she closes the door, the toriningen asks, "What do you got?"

She sees the flute and yells, "This is the item you risked your life for? It's a piece of trash! You saw the sack in his hand, right? That thing contains over 50,000 yen in coins! Go back in there and get the sack!"

"But what if he wakes up?" Madotsuki asks.

"I don't give a shit as long as I get my coins! Now move it!" The toriningen yells.

The E man says, "Listen, little girl, get out of here, he's waking up." Madotsuki exits the room quickly as the door is about to open. The door finally opens and reveals the other E man with an enraged look.

"Who took my flute?" It asks in a foul tone.

The first E man says, "Bird jerk took it."

Madotsuki listens as the second E man grabs the toriningen's neck and drags her into the other room. A few seconds of silence was all that Madotsuki could hear, followed by a series of high pitch screeches along with a few blood splatters.

She could make out "Oh God!", "Stop!", and "Please... no more..." from the noises made.

The first E man sees Madotsuki poking her head in the door and quietly says, "To be fair, I didn't like her too much. Though after this is done, she'll be in the worst mood of her life. Try not to hang around here for a while, will you?"

Madotsuki's face displays a repulsed look as she waves good bye to the E man. After walking away from, and vowing to never reenter, the E man lair; she walks to the north east of the department store and sees another entrance to a room. She enters the room to find a floating, upside down spike, with two little eyes and an even smaller mouth. She doesn't know how to open dialogue with such a creature, but before she could even react, it tips over on its side and starts pouring out red liquid from a hole on top of its body.

She sees a couch and proceeds to sit on it. Surprisingly soft, almost as though it was full of jelly. A disturbing thought enters Madotsuki's head as she notices that the liquid pouring out of the creature looks to be quick thick. Thinking about the couch and the liquid makes her quickly get out of the couch for fear of it popping open and getting herself sticky. As she leaves the area, she sees the backside of someone she knows.

"Sensei!" She shouts happily, attempting to get his attention. He turns around and starts running away.

"Wait! Don't go!" She cries out to him.

She pursues him until he goes up the escalator, runs into the elevator, and hits the up button before she was finished with the escalator."Sensei... why..." She says quietly.

"YOU!" She hears someone behind her say.

As Madotsuki turns around and sees the brutally injured toriningen she encountered before, it speaks in an extremely livid tone, "Not only did you not get me my coins, but you also got me the rape of the century! Now, I'm going to make sure you wish you were never born!"

The toriningen slowly lumbers over to Madotsuki as she was cowering in fear. When Madotsuki opened her eyes, she saw the toriningen fall onto the floor from being backstabbed by a man in a grey suit, armed with a long sword. "W-who are y-you?" She asks in a very terrified voice.

"It's time for you to wake up and smell the ashes." He says as he reaches out a light grey hand, reeking of decaying flesh. As the hand touches her forehead, she jolts awake and starts breathing heavily. It was barely lit outside and the clock read out as 6:56am. Madotsuki grumbles as she climbs out of bed and walks to her dresser. Picking a standard pink shirt, dark pink skirt, and her typical braids from the top of her dresser; she walks into the bathroom and attempts to begin her morning routine.


	5. Chapter 4: Burning passion

Chapter 4: Burning passion

Monoe is currently sitting at her computer in the sisters' bedroom, with a cold stern look on her face as the computer clock displays 7:08am.

"Poniko was supposed to be here an hour ago... why is she not here?" She asks herself quietly in a distasteful tone.

Monoko walks into the room with a glass of water in one hand and a bagel in the other.

"Want a bagel?" She asks with a mouth full of bagel. Monoe completely ignores her sister and walks out of the room, and soon the apartment. As Monoko sits on her bed and enjoys her bagel, Monoe walks down the hallway and up the stairs until she reaches the 2nd floor. She then sees the same vending machine on the 2nd floor she used to crack open and steal snacks from. Her stomach grumbles from the lack of breakfast, but she keeps her thoughts on Poniko.

After approaching the door labeled "206", Monoe knocks a few times and waits a moment. A little while later, a woman with brown hair and a bottle of sake in her hand opens the door.

"What are you here for?" She asks in a very anti-social tone.

"Is Poniko here?" Monoe asks politely.

The woman turns her head and yells, "Get over here, your friend is waiting for you!"

Monoe's eyes opened from the sudden yelling and she asks, "Does she usually get up later?"

The woman replies, "Hell, you'd be lucky to get her up before 10am."

Poniko walks into sight and asks, "Oh hey, ready to go?" Monoe nods and Poniko says goodbye to the woman, who only walks away deeper into the apartment room after Poniko closes the door.

"What kept you?" Monoe asks as she walks over to the snack machine.

"You know I don't wake up on the weekends before 9am at the very least, right?" Poniko replies as she looks at Monoe, "Also, going to crack it open, at least for old time's sake?"

Monoe is already fishing through her pockets for a suitable pin. "I swear, they made this way too easy on purpose."

She says in a disappointed tone. As the lock on the machine door was successfully picked, she carefully opens the door and starts grabbing some snack bags. Poniko asks as she grabs some snacks as well, "Do you think we're going to get caught anytime soon?"

Monoe shrugs as she stuffs the bags inside of her purse. After getting what they wanted, Monoe closes and locks the door. The two head toward the staircase when they see Madotsuki casually walking down the steps, with the same bored expression.

"Think you can apologize to her after referring to her as just 'that Madotsuki girl'?" Monoe asks sarcastically.

Poniko gulps from the prospect of apologizing to someone else, this time from how awkward it already was with Madotsuki. She, then, says, "Hey Mado." Madotsuki's head turns slowly as she stops in her tracks on a single step.

"I, uh... wanted to say that I'm sorry for not referring to you in a respectful manner..." Poniko awkwardly says. Madotsuki's face still retains the same bored expression, but she now beckons Poniko to follow her with a hand gesture.

As Poniko follows Madotsuki downstairs and into the 1st floor hallway, she asks, "What's this about?"

Madotsuki takes out a red letter from her pocket and puts it into her hand, then asks, "Do you know anything about this letter? I found it in my bathroom."

Poniko shakes her head, gives back the letter without hesitation, and says, "You're on your own with that. I'm just going to be heading to Monoe's right now. See you later."

They both wave goodbye and Madotsuki starts to head over to Masada's door. Just before getting any closer to the door, Madotsuki looks around to make sure something isn't going to happen. Being sure that nothing will happen, she knocks on the door. A few moments later, she hears some noises come from the door knob and the door opens. Masada stands before her and says, "Hello there, Madotsuki."

She bows gracefully before him and asks, "May I come in?"

He nods and she follows him through the apartment. She finds herself sitting in the chair she tried out yesterday and starts feeling more relaxed than sleeping in her own bed as Masada plays a soft song on the piano.

The soothing melody along with the warm temperature makes Madotsuki fall asleep very easily and whisk away into the dream world soon enough. As she opens her eyes, she finds herself in her room, but this time without the nearby famicom. She looks around and sees her bed. As utterly weird the prospect of a dream within a dream could be, she had to experiment a little. When she pulled the covers up, she was soon whisked away to a downward stairway with hands nearby, attempting to grab her. She walks down carefully as not to fall off the edges. She now enters a hallway that has an elevator door and another room forward. The elevator door looks the same as the one in the department store. Ignoring the elevator, she enters the next room, only to be blocked off from further progress by a huge fire. She simply stands there, wondering where to go, when she hears a whooshing sound. She looks behind herself and sees a fire extinguisher. She equips it and shoots out a little powder to get some practice with it. After immediately putting out the fire, she slowly moves onward.

Madotsuki looks around and sees this room as a storage facility of sorts, similar to the one at school Monoe explained could be haunted by the previous janitor who worked there and eventually hung himself three years ago. As she walks forth, she hears a disgusting series of noises from the other side of the storage shelves. Suddenly, she is greeted by the sight of a hairy mouth blob with teeth. Madotsuki at first cowers from the sight of such a monster, but soon realizes it's just like a dog: It pants heavily, whimpers when not feeling well, and licks you when you're very close. She scratches the back of it and pets it before moving onward to the next room. The decor suddenly changes to a white, futuristic look, like something out of those SCIFI movies that she remembers seeing in Masada's bedroom when she visited yesterday. She walks into the next room and sees a familiar face.

"SENSEI!" She cries happily as he turns to his left with a look of confusion. She sees his eyes are pointing in opposite directions and he is now wearing a full black body suit. She rushes to him and hugs him, almost crying with happiness. He hugs her back and shh's her softly. The moment was all too real for Madotsuki and she didn't know what else to believe.

"Is this a spaceship?" She asks while still sniffling. He nods and moves his mouth to speak, but no words could ever be heard.

"Why... why can't I hear you speak?" She asks as she pulls away from him, but it was the same thing as before: He could make the lip motions, but no words could be heard. She backs away from him and says, "Sensei, there must be something wrong here! This can't be right!

He stares in pure confusion, as though he could not detect anything wrong with what he said. The room's color was now flashing red and a loud alarm could be heard throughout the ship. He suddenly rushes to the key board and starts hitting buttons. She hold onto him and screams, "What's going on?"

He turns his head to Madotsuki and holds onto her, as though this were a final moment he wants to cherish before possible annihilation from colliding with another planet. As the planet's surface gets closer from the command center and the burning air friction gets louder, Madotsuki says, "Sensei... I... Love... you-"

She and Masada feel as though their bodies were forced against the ground of the ship so hard and fast, they were fatally crushed instantly. She jolts awake, heavily breathing, and finds Masada sitting in a nearby chair, enjoying a cup of coffee he had recently made.

"Madotsuki? Are you okay?" He asks with great concern.

"...Just a bad dream, sir." She replies, in a still shaken tone. Though she knows that it was only a dream, it was so pure and beautiful in her head that, if it were reality, she might have been okay with being killed from a collision course with mars, as long as she had Sensei Masada with her. Masada gets up from the chair after finishing his cup of coffee and heads over to the kitchen to put his now empty cup into the dish washer.

Madotsuki says, "Sensei? I have a question." Masada turns around after opening the washer door.

"Shoot." He replies casually.

Madotsuki smiles a little and asks, "What day is your birthday?"

Masada, turning back to the dish washer, replies, "August 18th, this Sunday. I'm going to turn 26."

Madotsuki looks over and sees a picture on his counter. It showed a much younger Masada standing next to a girl with short blondish hair and plaid-like grayish purple over shirt covering a slightly darker shirt along with a grayish blue skirt.

"Whose the person next to you in this picture?" She asks.

"That was back in high school, when I wasn't quite as skilled in musical instruments. She was a strange person who claimed to be from the future and wanted me to have a picture of us together. I kept it around because I thought it was nice. She said her name was Urotsuki, or something? I can't remember too well." He replies, looking at the picture as well.

Madotsuki soon hugs Masada goodbye and walks out the apartment door, still feeling warm and fuzzy while he was still in her mind. A sight catches her eye as she was standing in the hallway: Monoe is standing outside her door, looking at Madotsuki. "Poniko may be right; you might be a little obsessed about the guy." She says to Madotsuki.

Madotsuki glowers at Monoe and asks, "Is Monoko in there?"

Monoe nods and says, "But she and Poniko are playing Contra 3, and Poniko, from what I witnessed, has been screaming obscenities for the past 20 minutes. I'm only out here so I actually have a chance to get rid of this head ache she gave me and not make it worse."

Monoe walks away from the door and Madotsuki opens it, only to be greeted with, "How the hell do I get passed the squiggly thing without dying?" from a frustrated Poniko.

"All in the timing." A surprisingly happy Monoko states. Madotsuki walks over to where the action is and stands nearby.

After dying again, Poniko says, "Screw this, I'm done. Where's Monoe?"

Madotsuki points to the door and watches as a still frustrated Poniko walks out the door and talks to Monoe. Monoko turns off the game system and television while asking, "Am I the only one good at Contra?"

Madotsuki shrugs and walks into the kitchen. Upon opening the nearby refrigerator door, she gasps as she sees the same upside down spike full of red liquid, this time being held in a special drink holder. Monoko walks to where Madotsuki is and says, "That's Monoe's 'Tokuto' cup. What ever is in it tastes really strong."

Madotsuki simply closes the refrigerator door and walks over to the couch. She sits down on the couch, sprawls out, and closes her eyes, attempting to sleep again. Monoko simply looks at Madotsuki, opens up a nearby bagel bag, and grabs a bagel.

"Mmm... bagels..." She thinks with a smile on her face as she looks at a clock that reads 8:32am.


	6. Chapter 5: Oh, how I loathe thee

Chapter 5: Oh, how I loathe thee...

The knob turns and Masada opens his apartment door.

"What should I get for lunch today?" He ponders as he steps out and closes his door.

"A better question: How should I celebrate my birthday tomorrow? Play my piano? Relax and maybe have Madotsuki over? I cannot lie, she is a very sweet young girl, but I can't help the feeling that she might be a little obsessed about me." He continues thinking as he locks the door and begins walking down the barren hallway. As he walks by Monoe's door, he can't help but imagine what Monoe is doing right now.

"I wonder if she has fixed her computer up by now. She downloaded a nasty virus last week and also just sent me an email this morning. I never did open it, but I do have my suspicions." He ponders as he walks down the hallway. As he opens the door to the building, he immediately starts regretting the decision to wear a long black shirt with black pants due to how hot he will soon feel. He walks down the old and very cracked sidewalk for several minutes until he sees a nearby McDonalds.

"I never had much money." He thinks as he approaches and opens the door to the restaurant. As he enters the restaurant and waits in line for service, he notices a familiar face in the line, wearing the old green sweater and khaki pants.

"Shitai?" He asks curiously.

"Seccom? It's been 4 years. How's life working out for you?" Shitai asks.

"I got a job as a music teacher. Nothing worth losing a kidney for, but it gets food on the table." Masada answers.

"Hah! Only a lowly teacher? I'm going to be an office employee for a pretty awesome company." Shitai answers proudly.

"I take it you start work pretty soon?" Masada asks while the line moves up.

"Yeah, in about a week or so, I'm not too certain. But I'll be moving up in the world soon enough." Shitai replies and the line moves up by another person. The two guys order their meals and sit at a nearby booth.

"But really, Seccom, a teacher? You don't get shit for income." Shitai states rather bluntly.

"It's the only line of work open at the moment." Masada replies, staring out the window at the birds on the sidewalk.

"So, Seccom." Shitai opens up after a moment of awkward silence, "You're about to be 26. Feel like an old man yet?"

Masada lets out a sigh and continues to stare out the window, this time at a woman with a shoe on her head.

"I get it, you're sensitive about it." Shitai continues, "I'd be too if I didn't look as awesome as myself."

Shitai's gut rumbles, "Excuse me, but I got to drop the kids off at the pool." As Shitai walks to the bathroom, Madotsuki suddenly spots Masada in a booth and approaches him.

"Who was that guy?" She asks.

"Someone who doesn't deserve half the stuff given to him." Masada replies with a cold tone.

Madotsuki asks, "Why do you take such words from him?"

Masada replies, "Because I feel that he will get what he has coming to him soon enough." Shitai soon leaves the bathroom and sees Madotsuki as he picks up his food.

"Seccom, who's the girl?" He asks as he walks back to the booth.

"A student who saw me here." Masada replies as he gets up for his food. Shitai looks at Madotsuki and then raises his eye brows.

"So... how old are you?" He asks.

Madotsuki's face only displays a stern look. She soon says in a monotone voice, "I hate you already."

Shitai gives her a strange look and says, "Damn, tough crowd." Masada walks back with his box of chicken nuggets.

"Your student is awfully rude there, 'sensei'. Why don't you teach her a lesson?" Shitai asks mockingly, eating part of his burger. Masada, with some chicken nugget still in his mouth, glares at Shitai.

"You okay?" Shitai asks. Masada swallows the food in his mouth and says, "No. Ever since we opened dialogue, you made it apparent that you haven't grew up one bit since the end of high school. You get offered some corporate job that will earn you at least ¥4000 an hour, not including any contracting jobs that may present them selves later; yet, you still come off as a totally ignorant asshole that couldn't complete a day of work if you tried. While I busted my head open getting those grades and being stuck with a teacher job, you were a lazy pile of shit that barely got anything done and suddenly find yourself with more money opportunities than I could ever dream!"

Shitai stares at Masada silently and then says, "Whoa... I didn't realize that someone was butt hurt about all this."

Masada gets up from the table with his chicken nuggets and says, "That is your epic retort? Just a minor insult?"

Shitai says, "You're just jealous that I'm a better person than you in every way. I get girls better, I get money better... hell, I even get men better, just so you can't fall back on anyone... and I can also get your little student as well if I wanted, but I'd rather not lower myself to screwing your ugly bitch. I'd rather use my valuable semen to fill up something that deserves to be called a girl!"

Masada says, "You can say hello to the grill of an oncoming vehicle for all I care."

He looks at Madotsuki and calmly says, "C'mon, Madotsuki, let's go."

As Masada and Madotsuki walk away, Shitai yells, "Just think, Masada, I will eventually dominate you in every possible way! First your girlfriend, then your job market, and next stop, your very existence!"

As Masada and Madotsuki walk down the street to the apartment building, Madotsuki looks up at him and asks, "Are you okay?"

Masada stays silent. The rest of the trip back to the apartment building was plagued by awkward tension and silence, but they both encounter Monoe in the hallway of the first floor.

"Masada? You look bothered by something." she states with concern, but he simply raises his hand to silence her as he walks by. He soon unlocks his door and, after opening the door and walking through his apartment hallway, parks himself in a nearby chair. His face still retains a foul look.

"You can have the rest of my nuggets if you want. They'll go in the trash otherwise." He states, pointing at the box he placed on the kitchen table.

Madotsuki takes the nuggets and says, "Thank you, sensei." His foul look lightens noticeably when he finds Madotsuki hugging him.

"I really like you a lot..." She says calmly to him. He continues to lighten up until his face shows nothing but a small smile.

Madotsuki climbs up the front end of the chair and positions herself on Masada's lap.

"Madotsuki? Why are you on my lap?" He asks.

"It's warm and feels good." She simply says while resting against his chest. The door knocks, making Masada groans.

"If it's that prick again..." he mutters as Madotsuki climbs off of him so he can get up and answer the door. He stumbles his way to the door and opens it.

"Monoko?" He asks, "This is not what I expected."

"Monoe sent me to here ask if you got an email from her from the past couple days." Monoko asks.

Masada nods and says, "I didn't open though."

"Just delete it... wait, do I smell nuggets?" Monoko excitedly asks after picking up the smell.

"You can come in if you want." He says, just before being pushed out of the way in favor of chicken nuggets.

Monoko sees Madotsuki, at the kitchen table, eating nuggets and asks, "May I have some?"

Madotsuki nods and moves the box between them at the table. As Madotsuki and Monoko share the last of the nuggets, Masada walks to the bathroom in the hallway. A moment later, the two girls say goodbye and Monoko exits the apartment while Madotsuki walks to her favorite chair. She cozily sits in the chair and relaxes herself almost completely. After closing her eyes and slowing her breathing down to only a fraction of what it once was, her conscience whisks away to the dream world.

Madotsuki finds herself this time in a desert region, with nearby dried plant life and brown dirt. The wind occasionally blows a warm gust against her face, making her cough from the dirt that it carries. The high noon sun shines brightly and it showers the area with ultra violet rays, toasting anyone or anything foolish enough to stay out for a long while. The temperature, surprisingly, isn't quite as warm as she would expect it to be. As she takes her first few sandy steps in the dunes, she sees the grey suited man already.

"Before you go any further, take this." He says, offering a knife to her. She takes it and, before she could ask why, he leaves as suddenly as he appeared. Feeling as though she shouldn't doubt the grey suited man, Madotsuki wanders on further into the desert, being careful for any threats and dangers she may encounter. As she trudges to the west, she eventually discovers a strange sight: Three full sized toriningen and a childlike toriningen in a picnic setting, enjoying a variety of dishes that Madotsuki couldn't immediately identify.

The first toriningen speaks, "Alice, did you really have to bring Pipi along? She's just a little runt."

The second toriningen speaks, "Hey, fuck you pal, at least she can actually make use that god-awful drink that some guy left a keg of here."

The third toriningen speaks, "Both of you, shut up. I'm trying to get a nice tan here and you two aren't making it very fun." Madotsuki readies herself in the nearby bushel, with her knife equipped in case if they see her.


	7. Chapter 6: Hopelessness, followed by con

Chapter 6: Hopelessness, followed by confusion

The three normal toriningen are still bickering about menial things while Madotsuki continues to scout the area. The childlike toriningen, 'Pipi' she has been referred to as, holds her cup out and says, "Alice! More drink, please!"

The second toriningen, named Alice, takes the cup and places it under the nozzle of a nearby steel keg.

"Shelly, I still wonder why we were sent here of all places." She asks as she pulls down the tap.

"The master said something about a little girl being here, I'd assume? I don't know, he might be hitting the dream fuel a bit harder than usual." Shelly replies.

The third toriningen says while putting on some cheap sunglasses, "Less talky, more roast!" Pipi casually looks around until she sees the soft glimmer of light from Madotsuki's knife.

"KNIFE!" She screams while pointing in Madotsuki's general direction.

The two toriningen immediately spot her and assume combat stance.

"Fuck! She has a blade!" Shelly yells.

The third toriningen quickly gets up and also enters a combat stance. "Someone disarm her!" She says. Pipi just sits idly, terrified for her life. Madotsuki jumps out from the bush and readies herself for battle. For the first time ever, she now has to fight for her life against three attackers; each with a size and number advantage. Beads of sweat roll down her head as she eyes each toriningen for oncoming attacks while making sure nothing is going to jump out from behind. Shelly charges at her and swipes at Madotsuki with her claws, but barely misses her by an inch. Madotsuki retaliates by brutally stabbing the toriningen in the face. When removing the knife from the toriningen's skull, streams and sprays of blood lightly shower the area while the body hits the floor like a bag of sand. Madotsuki suddenly feels astonished that she actually killed something with her knife and Alice takes advantage of the moment by grabbing Madotsuki's right arm and then disarming her. The third toriningen takes a nearby weapon from under the picnic blanket, a high powered rifle, and aims it at Madotsuki.

"Play time is over. Alice, hold her still. Pipi, contact the boss with the nearby radio and report that we lost one and got the target."

Pipi nervously nods and picks up a radio from a picnic basket from before.

"W-we got her, s-sir!" She nervously states.

"While we're waiting for the boss..." The armed toriningen speaks, "Pipi, be a good girl and secure Madotsuki..."

Alice looks at the armed toriningen strangely and asks, "Then what would I do, Marina?"

Marina points her rifle at Alice and pulls the trigger, instantly killing Alice as a small stream of fluid flies out of her head.

"Now, do what I told you, Pipi. I have already set an example of what happens to failures." She continues smugly. Pipi, mostly out of fear, holds Madotsuki by the arms from behind her.

"Please don't resist or she'll kill us too." Pipi whispers into Madotsuki's ear. Marina soon begins laughing maniacally, accidently firing off a shot and nearly getting Madotsuki in the chest. The situation has turned from her against an organized team to her and a little toriningen girl being held hostage by a crazed adult.

"Now. I know we're all scared of the big bad boom stick..."Marina speaks calmly, not aware of what's going on behind her.

"...but let me assure you, Pipi, that you're going to be free after this is done. Now, does anyone know how much longer until-" She speaks until she gets bludgeoned in the head with a wooden board.

"Good job, Pipi." Monoe says, overlooking the scene while still holding her now broken board.

Pipi lets go of Madotsuki and asks, "What if she wakes up?"

Monoe picks up the rifle and points it at Marina. "She'll not be in the mood to chat. Also, look away." Monoe replies as she soon blows the toriningen's head clean off. Madotsuki looks around, horribly confused and without a clue of what just happened.

"Madotsuki, I had Pipi 'accidentally' fumble with the channel setting so it would contact me instead of 'The Boss'."

Still confused, Madotsuki decides not to bother with thinking about it too much.

"Where do we go now?" She asks.

Monoe raises her right eye brow and says, "Not much else to go. Also, is that my keg?" Monoe asks as she sees the steel keg.

"Drink!" Pipi says, putting her mouth on the nozzle and pulling down the tap. Monoe giggles to herself as she watches Pipi guzzle down the green drink keg's contents.

"It's going to smell like a paper mill." She says, still smiling. Madotsuki at first raises her eye brow at Monoe, but then soon shudders about the thought. As Madotsuki stands around, she sees a strange obsidian coin on the picnic blanket.

She picks it up and finds it labeled, "308, 8-18-2008" When she stops examining the coin for more inscriptions, she turns around to find Pipi on the nearby sand, burping up a little green fluid.

"Too much drink..." She says before closing her eyes to sleep.

Madotsuki approaches Monoe, who is still amused by Pipi's antics, and asks, "Anyway out of here?"

Monoe points eastward and says, "Go eastward until the vegetation starts getting too thick, then head north until you reach the barracks. The guys there can help you the rest of the way."

Madotsuki hugs Monoe goodbye and picks up her dropped knife before leaving. The sand looks roughly the same along with the cacti and rare bushels, and after 10 minutes of walking finds the vegetation to be too thick to press onward. She turns north and starts walking again until she sees the gate of the barracks. An iron fence stretches from one side of the gate all the way around the camp to the other side.

She walks through the gate and looks at the scenery. The buildings, despite being made of stone walls with metal roofs, look old and tattered enough to break down soon. A lone wooden power pole juts from the ground, with a piece of paper nailed to it.

"What a miserable place..." She mutters as she sees a nearby person, wearing a dark grey cloak.

"Excuse me, sir?" She asks. His head, judging by the cloak, turns toward her, but doesn't make a sound at all as he soon turns his head back to where it once was. Feeling as though Monoe only wanted to get rid of her, she wonders if anyone can talk in this place.

As she sees another person when walking through the barracks, she approaches him and says, "Hi there!" He turns around and, this time, lets out a noise similar to an ice cream truck song. She suddenly whisks away to another area, this time a grassy area surrounded by trees. She sees a house to the east and walks towards it. As she touches the door knob, she hears something rub against the wall and hit the floor with a thud. She opens the door to find the Grey Suited Man from before. He starts to walk towards her and, despite Madotsuki closing the door, follow her relentlessly.

"Who are you?" She asks, freaked out at this point. He reaches out a gray hand; once again it smells of rotting meat. She closes her eyes as she feels a stinging pain in her head when he comes in contact with her forehead.

"Trust me; you'll visit 308 if you want to know something." He states before Madotsuki hears a whooshing sound, followed by seeing the area fade away to white. The white area slowly turns dark and the whooshing still increases bit by bit as the seconds pass. Eventually, the sound peaks and she quickly jolts awake. Still in the chair in Masada's living room, she looks around to see if anything somehow changed. Though everything seems normal, she feels something in her right pocket that she didn't notice before. After reaching into her pocket for the unfamiliar object, she grabs it and removes it from her pocket.

Madotsuki's face displays a frightened look as she holds the coin from her dreams, with the "308" inscription and all. She hops out of the chair and looks over to the kitchen clock.

"4:45pm? Oh boy..." She thinks as she walks toward Masada's bedroom door. She knocks on it twice, but doesn't hear anything. After boldly deciding what to do, she opens the door slowly and quietly to find Masada is asleep on the bed, snoozing away silently. She climbs up and whispers into his ear, "Sleep well, Sensei." She kisses him softly on the cheek and hops off the bed to exit the room. Feeling a little bit hungry, she stops by his fridge and opens the door. Inside she sees some left over chicken, some soup from a diner, some wine, some milk, and some of the "Home made fire cake" Monoko made. She closes the fridge and opens the pantry. Madotsuki immediately starts drooling from all the food the guy has.

Chips, crackers, marshmallows, cans of beans, tortillas, dried noodles, hot sauce, blueberry bagels... "Wow... Sensei sure knows how to eat." She says as she looks at everything.

She takes the box of crackers from the pantry and carries them with her to Masada's room. As she walks through the doorway and climbs up the bed, she pops a cracker into her mouth as she watches Masada sleeping. He starts waking up from the noises Madotsuki makes chewing the cracker.

"Madotsuki?" He asks, rubbing his eyes "Why are you in my room, and eating crackers on the bed?"

She shrugs as she hops off the bed. He soon gets off the bed as well and follows her into the kitchen where she puts the box back in the pantry.

"Sensei?" She asks, "I saw this coin in a dream and found it in my pocket after waking up. I don't remember picking it up before I slept. What does this mean?"

He replies, "Maybe someone put it in your pocket when you were asleep? Though, that would be impossible, after I locked the door while you were asleep."

She asks, "I might have a stalker?"

He gives her a stern look and says, "Madotsuki, try not to think about it right now. I'm sure there is a logical reason for it."

She nods and hugs him goodbye. As she exits the apartment, Masada sits in a nearby chair and thinks, "A coin she found in a dream that somehow carried over to the real world? Something doesn't sound right with that at all."

Madotsuki is walking down the hallway and comes across Monoe's room. She opens the door and walks down the apartment hallway, where she sees Monoe playing Snake Eater and Poniko as a spectator on the couch.

"Not going to lie, Monoe, you're terrible at this game." Poniko comments as she watches Monoe die in game.

"Excuse me for not playing Metal Gear Solid religiously since its debut." Monoe responds. Poniko simply laughs as she grabs her drink from the nearby coffee table.

"Hey, Mado." Poniko greets just before belching.

"Poniko, your breath doesn't smell too bad..." Monoe says with her eye brow raised.

"You're not so bad yourself." Poniko replies, softly feeling Monoe's face with her hand.

"Stop it." Monoe sharply utters. Poniko, quick to learn, goes back to her side on the couch. Madotsuki simply walks away into the sisters' bedroom and sees Monoko at the computer, playing Super C on an NES emulator.

"Hi Mado!" She happily says after pausing the game.

Madotsuki says, "I found a coin labeled '308, 8-18-2008' in my pocket after waking up from a dream. I think something is going on."

Monoko just stares at Madotsuki and says, "I can't help you with that."

Madotsuki sighs and says goodbye to Monoko. She leaves the apartment and casually walks toward the stairs. When Madotsuki goes up the stairs and reaches the fourth floor, she walks to her door. She opens the door and walks to her room.

"Urgh... I need to right this stuff down..." She mumbles.

She begins writing, "August 17th, 2008; I saw Sensei at the McDonalds today. He was angry at someone and said some hurtful things, but the guy he talked to seemed like a pretty big jerk. After we got back to Sensei's place, he let me have the rest of his chicken nuggets. Monoko knocked on the door and came in to help with eating the chicken nuggets after telling him about deleting an email. I took a long nap and woke up later with a weird coin in my pocket. It read out as '308, 8-18-2008', like it's hinting to something happening tomorrow. I'll find out about it soon enough."

She closes her journal and sits down on the floor to play some NASU. As the opening theme starts, she presses the start button and begins playing. After reaching a score of 317 and failing to catch the eggplant in time, she is greeted by the game over screen. The time is now 5:34pm. She turns off her old television set and famicom.


	8. Chapter 7: Consternation

Chapter 7: Consternation

The last hours of the late afternoon and evening move on without excitement. Madotsuki went through this time without taking another nap, fearing the consequences of possibly whisking to a place near toriningen again. Although she was thankful that Monoe had orchestrated such a neat plan, Madotsuki feels that Monoe or anybody won't always be around to make sure she is out of trouble. The nearby clock reads 9:32pm and Madotsuki takes in a deep breath, then exhales; knowing very well that her bed time is coming up soon. She exits her bedroom and walks to the bathroom door. When she opens the door, she sees another letter on the toilet seat, this time colored light blue. The fact it was labeled "308, 8:35am" makes Madotsuki feel very nervous, as though someone was stalking her.

Attempting to not think about possible stalkers and strange items, she starts to remove her clothing and hair beads. When she is about to remove her panties, she pokes her head into the shower chamber out of paranoia. Although she sees nothing in there, she still remains somewhat paranoid. She finally removes her underwear completely and examines herself in the mirror, much like last night. Still, her small underdeveloped chest and lack of pubic hair remain the same, but she sees a little blood around her vagina.

She grabs some toilet paper and attempts to wipe up, but the blood just keeps dripping and replacing whatever she wiped off. Plus, whenever she would wipe without being extremely gentle, she felt a sharp sting of pain run through her body. After a few minutes, the blood would finally slow down in its running and she would place the heavily used toilet paper wad into the trash. She walks into the shower chamber, closes the door, and turns on the water. The warm water soothes her and almost makes her forget about the events of today.

"So heavenly..." She thinks as she reaches for the shampoo bottle. She pours out a good sized blob and starts soaping her hair very finely. As she rinses her hair, she sees a small spider on the wall. She sighs and smashes it to a pulp with the nearby shampoo bottle. The body falls to the bottom and the current of water on the floor sends it straight down the drain. She continues rinsing her hair and soon starts washing the rest of her body. When she starts washing between the legs, the pain quickly returns, but this time feels strangely pleasureful.

"Why is this happening?" She asks herself as she continues to wash around her vagina. The feeling has now evolved into pure ecstasy and she starts breathing heavily, almost moaning. Her cheeks blush bright red as she is reaching peak pleasure. She lets out a relieved sigh as she rests against the wall, blood slowly dripping from her vagina.

"I don't know what that was about, but it felt so magical..." She thinks as she closes her eyes, enjoying the warm water and ecstasy. Soon enough, she gets back onto her feet and rinses off the rest of her body, just before turning off the water. She opens the shower door slightly and grabs the two towels on the nearby bar. She wraps the first towel around her hair and holds onto the second towel. As she walks out of the shower chamber and looks into the mirror, she sees herself still blushing a little.

She scrubs away her skin with the towel still in her hand as she makes sure not to get the light blue letter wet. She puts the towel back on the rack and puts on her pajamas. She grabs the letter and exits the bathroom after turning off the lights. As she walks into her bedroom, she puts the light blue letter on top of the red letter and the obsidian coin.

"Three of these weird things, all together. I wonder if I say something stupid, they will summon Godzilla?" She thinks to herself and lets out a small giggle. The clock reads 9:53pm and she walks back to the bathroom. She removes the towel from her head and puts it back on the bar. She takes a nearby comb and starts combing away at to eliminate any tough spots or wads. She puts down the comb, grabs her hair beads, and walks to her bedroom again, determined that she's ready for bed.

"Tomorrow is going to be a big day." She thinks as she climbs into bed, "Sensei Masada's 26th birthday, and door 308... What other things could be thrown at me?"

As she closes her eyes, an indefinable amount of time passes before she whisks away to the dream world again. This time, she finds herself in a wintery environment, with only a few trees nearby in the vast field of snow. Surprisingly, the area only feels moderately chilly at most. Madotsuki looks around and sees, off in the southern distance, an igloo. She walks casually to the igloo and wanders what could be inside. She gets down on her hand and feet to crawl through the opening. Inside she finds a lone little girl, curled up and snoozing.

"Hello?" Madotsuki asks the girl, but she gets no response. She tries various techniques of waking up the girl, from simply snapping her fingers to screaming into her ear. Madotsuki groans from the lack of response and ponders what to do next. As she was about to crawl out the igloo, she hears someone walking through the snow. She crawls just enough to poke her head out and sees a toriningen walk by.

The toriningen sees Madotsuki's head, asks, "What are you looking at?" and walks off.

Madotsuki crawls out of the igloo completely and decides to walk south west until she gets someplace. As she walks through the snow, she can't help but appreciate the beauty of the snow and trees in this wintery world. She sees another igloo, but a strange pink glow illuminates from within. She crawls through the entrance and sees a strange pink object.

"Is this a diorama of sorts?" She thinks as she gets closer to it. When she touches it, she suddenly starts whisking away to a new location. She now finds herself in the center of a pink swirl shaped island. She looks behind herself and sees the same diorama from inside the igloo, assuming that touching it will warp her back. Curiosity kicks in, though, and Madotsuki starts her journey of walking to the end of the swirl. A few minutes pass and she reaches a balloon near an impassable mountain of stone. She touches the balloon and warps to an indefinable location within the water of this strange world. She looks around and sees a balloon to the northeast.

"Bingo!" She thinks as she walks to the balloon. As she touches the balloon, she warps to the south end of a small island, complete with three merged rainbow cones in the middle, surrounded by six other cones in a semi circle. Just as she walks to the entrance of the cones, she sees the gray suited man materialize in front of her.

"Before you go in, let me warn you: Never touch the light switch!" He says in a grave tone.

Madotsuki argues, "Why?"

The gray suited man simply laughs and vanishes in a poof of smoke. Rolling her eyes from the danger of touching a simple light switch, she walks into the inside of the big main cone. She notices that the inside area of the three merged cones was a small tunnel that leads to a door at the end. Upon opening the door, she sees Poniko in a bedroom like setting, looking just as weirded out as Madotsuki.

"How did you get here? It's like in the middle of goddamned nowhere!" Poniko asks.

"I found a diorama of a pink island of sorts and, as soon as I touched it, I found myself here." Madotsuki replies.

Poniko's eyebrows are raised after listening. She asks, "Madotsuki, now that you're here, what would you like to do?"

Madotsuki doesn't know where to even begin with Poniko. Suddenly, she looks at the lights switch near the door.

"Don't you dare hit that switch!" Poniko says while her teeth are gnashed. Madotsuki slowly forms a sinister grin on her face as she approaches the light switch.

"Madotsuki, you will regret hitting the switch! I'm being serious!" Poniko continues.

As Madotsuki gets close enough to touch the switch, Poniko suddenly speaks in a miserable tone, "You have no idea what you will impact the earth with, don't you?"

Madotsuki asks, "What will happen? A big scary demon will appear and attempt to destroy the world?" She flips the switch. Suddenly, Poniko starts glowing purple.

"Poniko, what's going on?" Madotsuki asks as she sees Poniko fall to the floor, clutching herself for dear life. A deep, demonic voice calls out, "For many moons, I have been banished under the island by an arrogant band of sages. Now, however, you have released me from this prison. As a reward, I shall grant you a swift and merciful death just before the culling of all who resist my command!"

Poniko struggles to say, "Now you have done it… damn… the luck…. Urgh…" Her final breath leaves her mouth as a black and purple portal spawns near her corpse. What Madotsuki did not expect, was actually assisting an otherworldly abominable demon with a conquest that would only result in the destruction of the world. She watches in horror as an eight foot tall dark muscular being walks from the portal, with a white face marked with dark essence.

"What are you?" Madotsuki asks, frightened of the behemoth.

"I had a lot of names during my glory days, but a name that has personally stuck with me is Uboa." He stands before Madotsuki and cocks his hand back, ready to punch her. As she narrowly dodges the punch, he accidentally blows away the door with such force that the individual splinters spread throughout the nearby cave.

"Keep running, I enjoy a prey that resists." Uboa says before letting out a cruel laugh. Madotsuki dodges another punch aimed at her and runs into the cave, toward the exit.

"You can't run forever, Madotsuki!" Uboa calls out as he morphs his muscular body into that of a spider. Madotsuki looks behind herself while running and nearly screams. She exits the merged cones and sees Masada in a motor boat, in the water south of the balloon. He makes a beckoning motion to Madotsuki while Uboa is still dealing with the small cave exit. As Madotsuki jumps in and Masada sets the boat to full speed, Uboa breaks open a bigger exit from inside the cones and unleashes a hellish scream of unrivaled horror. He stretches the length of his legs and starts crawling slightly above the water. Madotsuki, after a moment, looks behind herself and sees Uboa catching up at a very noticeable pace.

"Can't we go faster, Sensei?" She asks as Uboa is less than thirty feet away from the boat. Masada sets it to the maximum speed, but it doesn't seem to make the boat move quicker. Meanwhile, Uboa's mouth opens so he can inhale some air.

Madotsuki yells, "STRAFE!" as Uboa spews out a purple fire beam, barely missing the boat. They see an island up ahead and Masada ponders how they could possibly get to the exit in time. Masada's quick reflexes allow them to dodge another purple fire beam as they get closer to the island. As they reach the eastern side of the pink swirl island, the two hop off the boat before it gets incinerated by another purple fire beam. Masada and Madotsuki start running towards the center eye of the island, but Uboa immediately jumps out of the water and transforms back to his muscular humanoid form. He chases the two until they have reached the center. As Uboa cocks his hand back for a punch, the two touch the island diorama and warp away before Uboa punches the diorama, utterly annihilating it beyond recognition. Madotsuki soon finds herself with Masada back in the igloo, right next to a pile of dust that once was the teleportation diorama.

"Sensei… we made it back…" She says, holding onto him. Masada lets out a sigh of relief as he sees Madotsuki unharmed.

"Sensei, ever since you have helped me with music and all those times of pain, you have been a hero in my eyes." Madotsuki says, closing her eyes as she rests her head on his chest. Masada blushes a little as he smiles.

"I want to know… do you love me?" She asks.

For the first time ever in the dream world, she could hear his reply, "Yes." She starts crying tears of happiness as the moment seemed all too precious in her eyes. Not even her experience in the shower last night could compare to this.

"I… I… I love you too…" She stammers, barely able to speak.

He holds onto her and gently whispers, "Shh." Silence befalls the two as they sit together, bunched up and warm.

However, footsteps are heard and Madotsuki asks, "What should we do?" Masada closes his eyes as he thinks. Madotsuki begins to panic as the footsteps start getting louder and Masada doesn't seem to be reacting to it anytime soon. The footsteps stop and suddenly turn into crawling noises. As Madotsuki only sits by in horror, it turns out to be Monoko. Masada opens his eyes and greets her as he holds Madotsuki by him with his right hand.

"Monoko? What are you doing here?" Madotsuki asks with a sigh of relief.

"You're almost out of time for this session." Monoko bluntly states, causing her eyes to widen considerably.

"No! It can't be over this soon!" Madotsuki says, tears welling up in her eyes. Masada holds her tightly as she starts to sob quietly.

She asks, "Will you be there for me, my love?"

Masada softly pecks her forehead and says, "I'll always be there for you… always…" The world around Madotsuki starts fading to black and she starts to awaken. Her eyes finally open and she looks at her clock.

"8:11am! I have to hurry if I don't want to be late!" She thinks as she hastily grabs a shirt, skirt, and her braids from the dresser and legs it straight to the bathroom. She soon exits the bathroom fully dressed and walks out of the front door, determined to find out what the deal behind room 308 is about. She walks down the stairs until she reaches the third floor and starts counting the doors as she walks by.

"Room 308!" She thinks as she looks around. At first, she tries to open the door, but it wouldn't budge. Then, she looks under the mat to find a key. She picks up the key and unlocks the door. She enters the apartment and walks through the hallway. When she enters the living room area, she sees a journal and a vanilla folder on the table labeled, "April 3rd – 25th, 1998"

She opens the folder to find several photographs of a younger Masada with "Urotsuki", the girl from the picture on Masada's counter. At first, the pictures appear to start off innocently, with just Masada and Urotsuki standing together in a photo booth and at an outdoor area of sorts; but then, things get weirder for Madotsuki as she sees photos of a strange shadow creature, red drippings outside of the nearby window, the apartment room's television displaying a familiar gray suited man, and even a horrible toriningen like construction, stitched together from the pieces of various creatures.

The photographs were becoming too much for Madotsuki and she now focuses her attention on the nearby journal labeled, "4/3/1998 – 4/25/1998" She reads out the first entry, "April 3rd, 1998: I couldn't believe my eyes when Masada said this would take me back in time. It seems like he was technically right, but it sent me back 12 years too early! Nevertheless, I need to establish shelter in this apartment room for now. The asshole that runs this dump doesn't even check to see if anyone is in this room, let alone this floor. I should be safe for a while until the shadow men find out I'm here."

"Urgh, that's enough!" She says, closing the journal. Though ever curious, she takes the journal and folder with her to look at later as she walks out of the apartment room, remembering to lock the door and put the key under the mat like she found it. She walks up the stairs and goes into her apartment. She enters her bedroom and puts the folder and journal on the table while pondering what to do next.

"I could visit Masada and see how he is enjoying the start of his 26th birthday." She thinks as she exits her bedroom and soon apartment. She happily walks down the hallway and down the stairs. When she reaches the first floor, she sees Monoe standing outside the door, looking for someone.

"Madotsuki… I'm really sorry about Masada…" She says in a grave tone.

"What do you mean?" Madotsuki replies interrogatively with a twinge of suspicion. Monoe raises her eyebrow and asks, "You mean you didn't hear the emergency vehicle siren and the people running to Masada's room at five in the morning? Madotsuki, the guy had a heart attack!" She tells her, sending Madotsuki into a state of pure shock. Monoe sees her eyes welling up, as though she is about to cry. Monoe sighs and hugs Madotsuki, calming her down somewhat.

"There is nothing we can do about it but wait until they either successfully rescue him, or fail trying." She says which only makes Madotsuki push Monoe away and run to the stairway, quietly sobbing.

Monoe walks into her apartment and into the sisters' bedroom, only pondering, "Will Masada recover properly, will he be disfigured for life, or will he not survive? Only time can tell…" She sits in the nearby computer chair, still with a serious look on her face, and turns on her computer.

"Poor Madotsuki and Masada… the two only wanted to be together on his birthday." She thinks as she types in her password and presses enter. Soon, the desk top displays and she starts waiting for the computer to warm up.

Monoko walks into the room and asks, "What was going on early in the morning? I could barely sleep!"

Monoe, not turning around, replies in a harsh tone, "What you heard was noise representing the anguish of two souls, punished by the cold realities of life."

Monoko looks at Monoe and says, "That was deep, Monoe. I didn't think you were an artsy type!"

"I'm not." She replies bitterly. Meanwhile, Madotsuki is walking to her apartment, feeling as though Masada was doomed.

"I only knew him for three days and he is already taken from me…" She thinks miserably as she opens her apartment door. She walks into her room and sits on her bed, looking at the clock that reads 9:06am.

"If only…" She thinks as she looks around the room. Just when she hops off her bed and heads for the door, she hears the kitchen phone ring. She immediately runs from the kitchen and picks up the phone.

"Hello?" She asks.

"Madotsuki? This is Masada. It's so good to hear from you after this 4 hour ordeal. I'm very sorry for not telling you earlier, but I was still very tired." Masada says on the other end of their somewhat static filled connection.

"SENSEI!" She exclaims happily.

"I'll be out of here soon enough. The doctors said that they want to see whether or not anything has been permanently or even temporarily affected by the heart attack." Masada continues.

"I'm just happy to hear that you're okay." Madotsuki says, but then asks, "By the way, how did you get my number? I never told you…"

Masada lets out a small laugh and says, "I contacted Monoe about your number yesterday while you were asleep. She sounded surprised I didn't get it from you yet, but nevertheless she gave it to me."

Time passes as Madotsuki and Masada continue to chat over the phone that, when Madotsuki sees the clock and realizes she has been talking with him for twenty minutes, she says, "Sensei, I have to go now. I'll talk to you later."

"Goodbye, Madotsuki." He replies as he folds up his cell phone. After putting the phone back in the receiver, she walks to her bedroom and climbs onto her bed. The realization that Masada is going to be okay calmed her down almost entirely as she sprawls out and closes her eyes. Soon enough, her conscience whisks away to the dream realm. This time, she finds herself inside of a forest of sorts. She walks through the forest and eyes the trees nervously, making sure that something won't take her by surprise. She suddenly finds two totem poles that could be interpreted as an entrance. She walks through them and whisks away to a darker area, with colored animal faces spread amongst the floor along with a toriningen.

"You're not getting your grubby little hands on my stash!" She yells in a crazed tone.

Madotsuki equips her knife and says, "Don't get any closer!"

The toriningen starts lumbering over to Madotsuki, with blood dripping from its mouth along with blood stains on its hands. She swipes at Madotsuki and misses, while Madotsuki lands a successful stab to the head, instantly ending the toriningen's existence. She pulls the knife from its skull and wipes it off with part of the toriningen's dress. She sheathes the knife and walks to a strange floating stack of boxes.

"What's this?" She wonders as she gets closer to it. When she comes into contact with it, she instantly teleports to a small red room that branches off into two different paths. She exits the small room and picks the path that branches to the right. She traverses the many different paths she encounters and eventually finds herself next to some stairs that lead downward. Feeling that she doesn't have anything to lose, she goes down the stairs and finds herself on the docks. The aura of the docks suddenly relaxes Madotsuki from her journey through the red world above. She walks through the docks, admiring the serene scenery. After ten minutes of walking, she sees a lone fisherman, standing at the end of the docks.

"Excuse me, sir?" She asks. The fisherman looks over and gives her a strange look.

"What do you want? You aren't getting any of my bait!" He says in an irritable voice before turning back to his fishing spot. Feeling a little mischievous, she sneaks up behind him and pushes him into the water. At first, she was giggling to herself while the fisherman yells incomprehensible insults to her. Soon however, Madotsuki learns to regret her prank from the sight of a lake monster biting the fisherman and flinging his body mercilessly with its knife like teeth.

"Maybe that was a bad idea." She thinks as she sees the monster stop playing with its prey and finally consume him. As the lake monster slinks back into the water, Madotsuki looks around to find that she is completely alone. The serenity of the dock changes into flat out isolation as she tries to walk back to where she entered the docks, but she soon finds that the stairway up had somehow vanished from existence.

"I was wrong; coming here in the first place was a bad idea!" She says to herself as she realizes that there is no visibly obvious exit.

"Need a hand?" Someone calls out behind her. Madotsuki turns around to find Monoe with bloody hands.

"Why are your hands so dirty?" Madotsuki asks, worried of the possible answer.

"I sometimes come down here to feed the fish a few tasty treats." Monoe replies, holding something behind her back.

"What are you holding behind your back?" Madotsuki asks, thinking of an obvious answer.

"A bucket of 'fresh' food." Monoe replies, smiling heavily. Madotsuki stares at her, wondering whether or not Monoe was simply feeding them some red chum, or if this were hinting to a more sinister side of the dreamy incarnation of her best friend's sister.

Regardless, she asks, "Do you know of a way out of here?"

Monoe replies, "Yeah, but you won't like it."

Madotsuki says, "Come on! It can't be worse than this place!"

Monoe rolls her eyes and explains, "Alright, take your hand and pinch your face. That's all you have to do." Madotsuki slowly raises her hand to her face and quickly pinches herself, suddenly jolting awake.

As she opens her eyes, she mutters, "Screw you, Monoe…" as she slowly rises from bed and sees the nearby clock read 10:11am.

Meanwhile, Monoko is walking down the hallway to Monoe's apartment. She approaches the door and opens it. As she walks in, she here's a soft groaning come from the sisters' bedroom. Curious as ever, she opens the door only enough to see through the slit of light coming from it. She sees Poniko sitting on Monoe's bed, watching Monoe manage computer files.

"Monoe, you've been playing with that thing for 3 hours off and on, take a break already." Poniko says.

"Poniko, you should shut up for 3 hours." Retorts a furious Monoe. Monoko starts to feel uncomfortable as Poniko gets up from the bed in sight.

"Monoe, you're losing your sanity over a seven year old computer. Seriously, let's just put it away for a while and get a snack." Poniko says, feeling Monoe's arm softly. Monoe shoves Poniko away.

"This stupid thing needs to get fixed up, Poniko! I don't have any money for a real computer and this thing is all I have!" She loudly exclaims and soon starts softly weeping.

Poniko hugs Monoe and says in anticipation, "You're welcome, sweety." Monoko looks away from the sight of her older sister losing her sanity, trying to get the computer fixed up; and walks to the living room.

She plops herself onto the floor near the television set and turns it on. Monoe, still sounding little upset, walks with Poniko into the kitchen and gets her 'Tokuto' cup from the fridge.

"See? Isn't this better than being cooped up at your computer for hours?" Poniko asks nicely while sitting at the kitchen table.

"Urgh… There is just so much that needs to be done…" She says, drinking the red liquid from the cup and shuddering from the strong taste. She turns around and sees Monoko stealthily taking out enemies in Snake Eater.

"Is it sad that my little sister is better at this game than me?" She asks.

"To be fair, you have all the computer smarts and know how to make do with a computer from 2001." Poniko replies smugly. She lets out a laugh with Poniko as they watch Monoko get discovered and run for her life from the oncoming enemies.

Monoe suddenly hears her phone go off and quickly answers, "Hello?"

Poniko sits by in silence as she watches Monoe excitedly reply, "Almost completely unscathed? Awesome! By the way, happy 26th birthday, Sensei."

Poniko, again, sits in silence briefly as Monoe calmly replies, "Okay, talk to you later. Bye." She folds up her phone and puts it into her pocket with a happy look.

"Masada is almost cleared out. He'll be home around 12:00pm." Monoe tells Poniko.

"Sounds like the unstoppable force…" Poniko starts up, putting on a nearby pair of cheap sunglasses, "…has been stopped."

Monoe grabs the sunglasses and says, "Give those back, Poniko."

Back in Madotsuki's room, Madotsuki finds herself reading from the journal she recently obtained.

"April 19th, 1998: The shadow men are still stalking me. I cannot fathom going out with Masada during the night, despite his personal requests. It seems that I may have to hurry with portal searching. Also, I've discovered something strange regarding the landlord while I was sneaking around: He was responsible for the murder of two people that lived on the 1st floor.

"Apparently, he figured they knew about his drug trade and decided that intoxicating their room via the vent was his only way to eliminate 'evidence', despite the fact that the couple didn't know anything related to such an affair. I managed to anonymously drop off a packet of information at the local police station. The guy is going to be in some deep shit tomorrow morning." Madotsuki closes the journal and thinks, "This person can't be real at all."

She leaves the book on her desk and looks into the alarm clock as she climbs onto her bed. She sprawls out and closes her eyes, slowly falling asleep.

"10:49am" she thinks as she whisks away. She finds herself in a strange area with blue faces on the walls along with various numbers posted on the floor. She walks eastward until she sees something that catches her eye: a very shiny coin on the ground towards the south of the giant room. She walks toward the coin and eventually picks it up. It was a golden coin, labeled, "The open mouth knows where." She looks around and sees a face, partially clipping through the northeastern wall. The face's mouth is open, getting Madotsuki's curiosity.

At first, she says to it, "Hello?"

She gets a little unhappy from the lack of response. She knocks on the wall, making a fleshy sound. As she knocks on a different wall nearby, it makes a cardboard sound. Finally, out of pure boredom, she equips her knife and starts tearing away at the first wall, discovering a secret passage. She walks through and sees a long passage to her left. As she walks up the passage and through the next door, she encounters, possibly the strangest dream creature she has ever seen: A big pinkish red dildo like being with touches of yellow, purple, green, and other colors.

"Why, hi there, little girl! How did you get in here?" It asks in an unnaturally high pitched voice.

"Who are you?" Madotsuki asks in response.

"They call me KyuKyu. I just love this railing!" It responds with heavy enthusiasm.

Madotsuki sees KyuKyu rubbing the steel railing almost constantly, giving off a squeak every few seconds. She stops paying attention to KyuKyu and starts going up the stairs towards the next door in sight.

"Uh uh! I wouldn't do that if I were you!" It speaks again, this time in a very concerned tone.

"Why not?" Madotsuki asks.

"They say that those who enter do not come out even partially the same!" It speaks in a scared tone. Madotsuki rolls her eyes and opens the door. She closes it and tries to reopen it, but the door knob is jammed.

"Why isn't this thing working?" She thinks, but suddenly gets hit on the back of the head with a heavy object. When she comes to, she finds herself tied to the wall, being stared at by a toriningen. Immediately panicking, she tries to move her body. She also sees a group of teenage boys enter the room without shirts on.

"What's going on?" She asks in a slightly scared tone.

"Show her." The toriningen says and the boys start taking off their pants, revealing their erect genitals. Madotsuki's face goes pale as they start getting closer. When one of the boys finally gets within inches of her, she hears a gunshot and the boys turn around. She sees Masada holding a pistol in one hand and a sword in the other.

"Oh Christ! It's him! Get him!" the now wounded toriningen screeches. Two boys attempt to charge him, but instantly get eviscerated while another gets shot in the head.

Madotsuki watches Masada as he finishes off the last of the pack. As he approaches her, feeling tired; he hears someone walk behind him and, before he could turn around, feels a thick claw go through his chest. Masada falls to the ground as Madotsuki stares in absolute horror at the figure.

"I don't think we have finished our game earlier, if I do recall correctly." The figure says, revealing himself as Uboa. Masada attempts to get up, but Uboa finishes him off with a quick stab to the head.

"YOU BASTARD!" She screams, blood boiling from the sight of her fallen teacher.

Uboa laughs heartily and says, "He is not worth my time nor my patience, but you…"

He approaches her and feels her face gently, "You're worth all the effort I could ever expend." Madotsuki growls and shakes his hand off, before getting her throat gripped.

Now, be a good girl and do not interfere with events beyond your time! I do not wish to make this unpleasant for either of us!" He snaps at her, still choking her viciously. Madotsuki's vision starts to blur.

"Good day, Miss!" He harshly says to her while she is starting to see spots. Soon, she blacks out and loses conscience. She awakens and finds herself in a strange circular room with many doors nearby. She checks herself to see if he violated her in anyway and doesn't feel anything had happened at all.

"Where am I?" She thinks as she approaches the far northern door. As she opens it, she suddenly sees her room, only without the famicom or Madotsuki herself in the bed.

"This place is like a nexus of sorts. A network of various dreams, it seems." She thinks as she enters her dream room. The room feels strangely different, as though something about it is not quite right. She approaches the television and turns it on. She sees either an eye ball or a solar eclipse. Either way, she turns it off quickly. The bookshelf doesn't have the journal she found earlier this morning and the desk doesn't have the vanilla folder, but every other part of the room seems relatively in place. As she opens the door to discover more about this 'nexus', she finds the grey suited man.

"You had a run in with that guy, didn't you?" He asks rather inquisitively.

"Why would you care?" She asks in an annoyed tone.

"Because I'm here to help you with your dreams. Besides, you have a visitor." He replies while sidestepping out of the way for Monoe.

"Hey." She greets Madotsuki.

"Like the pinching trick I told you about? Sure got you out in a jiffy, eh?" She asks with curiosity. Madotsuki's face turns red and she suddenly decks Monoe in the mouth.

Monoe spits out some blood and asks, "What the hell was that for?"

Madotsuki says, "You didn't tell me that it would boot me out of my dreams as well!"

Monoe sighs and says, "Okay, you got me. But still, it was that or sit there and watch me find more stuff to feed the sea monsters with."

Madotsuki says, "Goodbye, Monoe" as she closes the door. She locks the door and climbs onto her bed.

"The real Monoe wouldn't be that much of a thorn at my side would she?" She wonders as she sprawls out on her bed.

"Then again, the real Monoe never would have helped me with very much." She thinks as she looks into her clock that reads 13:37am.

She sighs and says, "If only Masada were here to be with me…"

She starts feeling a little teary eyed and says, "He would hold me and talk about things…

Her eyes are watering up as she says, "He would tell me that I was a beautiful little girl…"

She starts crying again before she feels someone hand her a tissue. She takes it and blows her nose before she wonders, "Wait, who gave me this tissue?"

She looks to her side and finds Poniko. "I heard it all before, pal." Poniko says as she gives Madotsuki the tissue box.

"How are you still alive?" Madotsuki asks, "Uboa used your body to open a rift into this world!"

Poniko chuckles and says, "Yeah, but I eventually come back in your head. Since I am a figment of your imagination, built by your brain upon a real life encounter, I can keep coming back in this world!" Poniko replies with a laugh.

Madotsuki asks, "Is it possible to destroy anything permanently in this place?"

Poniko says, "Yeah, but it involves killing yourself. Also, guess what time it is?" She asks.

Madotsuki says, "I don't know, just tell me!"

The room starts to white out as Poniko says, "It's time to wake up, Sunshine!"

Madotsuki yells, "Poniko, you bastard!" The room starts fading to white while Poniko's laughter rings in Madotsuki's ears. She suddenly awakens and feels her clothes are covered in sweat.

She sees the clock and thinks, "11:51am… time for lunch." She hops out of her bed and walks to the kitchen. She opens the nearby pantry and takes out a package of dried noodles. She grabs a pan, fills it with water, opens the noodle package and puts the brick of noodle into the watery pan. After placing it on an oven burner and setting the burner to high, she walks to the living room couch and plops herself onto it.

She looks around at the nearby wall decorations her parents put up over the years. Pictures of the family, a picture of Spain her father put up, a picture of Venice her mother put up on the opposite wall, and even a drawing she made when she was three years old.

"Wait, why does that drawing seem so familiar?" She thinks.

Suddenly, it hits her: "That's a drawing of KyuKyu! He was something I came up with when I was given those crayons!" She says out loud. She also hears boiling coming from the pot in the kitchen. She rushes to the kitchen and sees that the noodles are still cooking. She sighs and opens her fridge door. Inside, she sees some milk, juice, jam, and beer that her parents bought last week. She takes the jug of milk and puts it on the counter. Taking a glass from a cabinet, she fills it with milk and puts the milk back in the fridge. She sips the milk while taking a fork from the silverware drawer to stir the noodles

"At least I have a nice drink." She thinks as the noodles seem to be getting softer. After a few minutes, she pours the noodles into a big cup and mixes seasoning with the noodles. She takes the big cup full of seasoned noodles to the kitchen table along with her glass of milk and sits down at the table. Just as she was about to taste the noodles, she hears a knock on her door. As she walks to the door, she assumes it is Monoko or Monoe. She opens the door to find Masada standing in the hallway.

"SENSEI!" She screams as she rushes to him and hugs him tightly.

"Easy there. The doctors say I can't do too much rough housing for a few days." Masada says in a surprised tone.

"I missed you so much!" She says, still holding onto him.

"Good to see you, too." He says, hugging her as well.

Suddenly, a voice calls out, "Sensei Masada?"

Masada turns around to find Madotsuki's parents, looking at him oddly.

The man speaks, "We're Madotsuki's parents, and I do not believe that we have formally met before."

Masada says, "Oh yes… a pleasure to meet you two."

"Now, Masada." The man asks, "You're the music teacher for the middle-high school, correct?"

Masada nods. The woman says, "You look a little young to be a teacher, aren't you?"

"I assure you, Madame, I am a music teacher." Masada replies.

Madotsuki looks at Masada and asks, "You're going back down stairs?"

Masada focuses on Madotsuki and says, "Yeah, your mother doesn't like me too much, it seems." She hugs Masada one last time before he walks to the stairs.

"I thought he was somewhat responsible looking…" The man says, walking into the apartment.

"I still don't trust him too much with our daughter…" The woman says, following him. Madotsuki walks into the apartment as well to finish up her soup and possibly visit Masada again soon.

As Masada walks out from the stairs on the first floor and heads back to his apartment, he sees Monoe standing outside of the apartment.

"Good to see you again, Monoe." He says.

"Likewise…" She replies with a smile on her face. He walks to his door and unlocks it. As he enters the apartment, he walks to the kitchen and opens the fridge.

"Ah… good to be home again…" He says, grabbing a cold drink from the fridge and closing the door.


	9. Chapter 8: A Strange Surprise

Chapter 8: A Strange Surprise

Nearly two months go by after Masada's trip to the hospital and Madotsuki's first encounter with Uboa as the fall season starts to kick in. Masada had slowly gotten used to the school work and responsibilities of adulthood, which eventually reduced his after work stress. Madotsuki, ever since she had been visiting Masada at least once a day, was in a cheery mood each weekday morning as she walked to the bus stop with Monoko.

As of now, Madotsuki is writing into her diary, "October 19th, 2008; Mom and dad are busy, trying to arrange where I should stay while they're on their business trip. At first, they called Monoko's parents about this, but they heard that Monoko was grounded for the week and she wasn't allowed to have friends over. As soon as my father mentioned the possibility of staying as Sensei's, my mother became overly protective and didn't want me to be possibly harmed by him."

Madotsuki closes her diary and walks out of her bedroom, eager to pick up on how the discussion regarding her temporary residence is going.

As she walks closer to the living room, she hears, "Dear, I don't think Masada will do anything horrible with our daughter. Besides, I asked about him at Monoko's apartment just last week and her parents said that he was a responsible person when he babysat for Monoko several years ago." Her father says.

"I still don't feel comfortable with our daughter around him. He looks like he is just begging for trouble." Her mother replies.

"But here's the kicker: We don't have another choice. It's either him or send her to my brother's house, and I'll be damned if I send her there again, especially after what happened four years ago!" Her father says, losing his patience. Madotsuki shudders as she remembers what happened. She was only seven when her uncle tried to molest her in his bedroom while her parents were in the living room, enjoying a television movie.

Her father came in after hearing screams and saw his brother with his pants off. She remembered the police showing up five minutes later, arresting her uncle, as she was being driven home, still terrified from the encounter.

"You drive a hard bargain… fine, we'll have her be with the music teacher. I guess he can't be as bad as your brother…" Her mother says reluctantly.

"Madotsuki, pack your closet suitcases, you'll be staying with Sensei Masada!" Her father yells.

"Yes sir!" She replies, heading back to her room to pack up. A while later at Masada's apartment, he sits on his bed, reading a science fiction novel.

"It's funny how the robot is actually the antagonist." He thinks as he turns a page. Just then, he hears knocking at the door. Raising his eyebrow as he puts in a book mark, he hops off his bed and walks to the door. He opens the door to find Madotsuki and her parents.

"Hello. We're going on a business trip tomorrow from Monday to next Friday. Are you willing to accept Madotsuki as a house guest for at least 11 days?"

Masada's eyes widen at the news and says nervously, "S-sure… I'll be happy to keep her for a while." As Madotsuki walks into the apartment with her suitcase, her father shifts his glasses.

"Sensei, keep in mind that you will have to do a damn good job keeping her safe and out of trouble. You could already tell that my wife doesn't have a lot of faith in you." Her father says very sternly.

As her parents and Masada say goodbye, her father says, "Also, one more thing…"

As Masada raises his eyebrow, her father makes a motion with his index finger, sliding it across his own throat. Masada gulps as he closes the door, worried that the girl's stay will not end happily. Madotsuki follows Masada into his kitchen as he looks at the nearby clock reading 7:58pm.

"Don't worry, Sensei… Dad isn't going to hurt you at all…" Madotsuki says affectionately.

Masada says as he walks to the fridge, "Well, now that you're here, make yourself at home." Madotsuki plops herself onto a chair nearby and lets out a sigh of relief.

Masada walks out of the kitchen with a canned drink and asks, "What would you like to do tonight?"

She replies softly, "Sit with you and enjoy the ambience."

Masada shrugs and sits in the other chair with his drink, occasionally sipping from it. Several minutes go by and Madotsuki starts to fall asleep. Her vision starts to get harder to maintain and, soon enough, she gives in. She whisks away to the dream world, but this time, something doesn't feel right.

She looks around and finds herself in the desert like region again, but sees a huge stairway leading upwards on a pyramid shaped building. Honestly without an idea where else to go, Madotsuki begins her long trek up the stairway. As she trudges onward, she looks behind herself and sees a swirling figure in the air from a long distance. She watches curiously for a moment before realizing that the figure won't fall to the ground anytime soon so she continues walking up. She reaches the top and sees a large opening to a big block in front of her, like a temple entrance.

She walks through it and comes out in a park area, similar to the one that Monoe loves to visit every week. She looks northeast and sees Monoe and Poniko sitting at a park bench, with Monoe being wrapped up in Poniko's arms. Madotsuki walks over to the girls and asks, "Am I interrupting something?"

Poniko immediately lets go of Monoe and says, "Oh no, we weren't doing anything… honestly."

Monoe turns to Poniko and says in a happy tone, "Weren't you just admitting your crush to me and that you also wanted to-" before she gets her mouth covered by Poniko's hand.

"Shut it, you!" Poniko quickly mouths off furiously.

As Madotsuki finds it harder to keep herself from laughing as the moment continues, Poniko asks, "So what's up? How's it going?"

Madotsuki replies, "I didn't know that there was a park here!"

Monoe says, "This place is awesome. The trees, the plants, the nice comfy park benches… even the noisy fireworks display going on towards the south east is quite nice."

Madotsuki waves goodbye to the girls before leaving them to their privacy. Madotsuki, judging how Monoe looks ever so curiously at Poniko with a bright pink blush in her cheeks, grins as she walks away, knowing what is going to happen next as she walks to where Monoe said was the fireworks display. She sees a small crowd of people near the edge of the cliff, next to the park's gardening shed. Not retaining any interest in the fireworks, she walks into the shed and finds it to be darker and bigger than it looks on the outside.

As she walks through the inside of the shed, she sees white flowers nearby with one at the end of her path. She kneels down and touches the flower gracefully. She hears a soft sound ring through her ears and sees a white flash for a brief second before she gets back up. She now sees flower petals fall in from above and closes her eyes. After coming back to her senses, she opens her eyes and walks out of the shed, only to find that the park is gone and she is now in a large, cavernous area. The walls are light gray and the ceiling is pure black along with the floor.

A strange machine noise can be heard often as she walks through, examining the bleak area. A ghostly being suddenly appears, taking her on by surprise, and floats around her curiously. Madotsuki, interested in the ghost, asks, "Hello, who are you?"

The ghost doesn't reply and vanishes from sight. Suddenly the sound of footsteps could be heard and she makes it straight to where the shed was once, but she sees the gray suited man standing in front of the door.

"Shouldn't you be somewhere happy? Like the fireworks display?" He asks in a mocking tone.

"Get out of my way!" She says, brandishing her knife.

"You want to compare weapons?" He says, equipping a long sword. She dodges his slash and runs past him, looking for the flower. She kneels before it and, before the gray suited man could hit her with a devastating strike, touches it gently. She gets up and looks behind herself, but doesn't see the gray suited man anymore.

"He's gone…" She thinks as she turns around to exit the shed. She soon emerges from the shed and walks back to Monoe and Poniko, just as curious about their 'fun' as ever. She walks to the park bench and breathes in to speak, but doesn't see anyone there.

"Strange, they were here a second ago." She mutters as she looks around nearby. She sees, near a tree to the south, a blobby cyan creature that slowly drips from the 'head'.

She says, "H-hello?" It nervously warps behind her. She turns around and gives it a nasty look. As she walks toward the exit of the garden area, the sound of thunder rolls as the exit mysteriously vanishes in an instant.

The sky turns red and the ground turns brown as a voice calls out, "Madotsuki, your evasion will lead to the deaths of many in this world!"

She turns around and runs toward the fireworks display, only to be greeted by the sight of Uboa's blob form in the air, wildly spinning in circles as lightning strikes the area, obliterating anyone foolishly standing still for more than a moment. She stares in horror as she watches him cackle maniacally, destroying the park with each bolt of lightning.

"You shouldn't have come, Madotsuki! Now you will die!" He yells as lightning strikes her before she could react, instantly jolting her awake. She, thankfully, finds herself in the chair, but sadly doesn't see Masada in the room. She gets up from the chair and drags her suitcases to Masada's room to find him on the bed in his bathrobe, reading a book.

"Madotsuki, where to you plan to sleep?" He asks calmly.

"In the bed." She replies casually.

"That leaves the couch for me, then." He says, attempting to get off the bed before Madotsuki replies swiftly, "We can share the bed together!"

He stares at her with a stern look and says, "I don't know if that would be even remotely legal…"

She looks into his eyes and asks sadly, "Sensei, please?"

He sighs and says, "Alright, we'll be together in bed, but I don't want to engage in anything weird."

She happily hugs him and, after getting her pajamas from one of the bags, walks to the bathroom. Masada just sits still and thinks, "This is only going to end badly for me… either I'll get a prison sentence or her parents will murder me…"

He opens up a nearby book on his end table and thinks, "Though, maybe Madotsuki is a bit more modest about things than her father is…"

He shrugs and, as he attempts to start on the page he last left off, hears Madotsuki yell, "Sensei! Do you have another shampoo bottle?"

He hops off the bed and enters the bathroom. As he grabs a bottle from under the counter, he says, "I got one."

He knocks on the glass door and, when Madotsuki opens the door slightly, hands her the bottle. "Thank you." She says warmly. He walks out of the bathroom and climbs on the bed.

Masada rests his head on a pillow and looks over at the clock to his left.

"9:12pm… almost time for bed…" After a while, the water stops and Masada thinks, "Maybe this won't go too badly at all…

Madotsuki exits the bathroom in her pajamas with a towel wrapped around her head. "What time do you have to get up for school?" She asks.

"Usually 5:30, leave the apartment at 6:30, and begin the fifteen to twenty minute drive." Masada replies, not moving his head at all.

Madotsuki walks back into the bathroom, scrubbing her hair with the towel, and reaches for a comb. When she finishes combing her hair, she exits the bathroom and climbs up the bed.

"Ready for bed, Sensei?" She asks with enthusiasm. He nods and pulls the covers. Warm thoughts flood Madotsuki's head as she grabs one of Masada's pillows and rests her head against it while only anxiety fills Masada's head. He turns off the nearby lamp and closes his eyes. Soon, he feels Madotsuki's hand rest on his chest and he starts to feel slightly calmer.

"Dawn of the first day, roughly 250 or so hours remain." He thinks as he slowly drifts off to sleep.


	10. Chapter 9: Rough start

Chapter 9: Rough start

A younger Seccom Masada chases after a laughing Urotsuki over a bridge in the country side. It was only a few seconds later, after passing several thin trees, that Masada finally wraps his hands around her chest while smiling.

"That was the most fun I've had in weeks!" Masada says, panting heavily.

"Same here! Also, it's funny how we are such good friends after only four days of meeting!" Urotsuki replies, trying to lighten up a little. They both lie down on the soft wet grass and look into the sky.

"I have to say that you're a bit faster than I expected, Komuro." She speaks again.

Masada gently laughs and replies, "I might not be the fastest kid in school, but I can run when I need to."

Urotsuki places her left hand on Masada's right hand and whispers into his ear, "You know? I think I can see us hanging out together quite a bit. Strange how a blondish weirdo like me is getting together with a somewhat promising musician."

She nuzzles up to his head and whispers again, "Maybe if I don't have to go anywhere anytime soon, we can get _really_ intimate." Masada's eyes open widely and he shoots a small load of blood from his nose.

Urotsuki looks at the blood stain on his shirt and says in a light tone, "Well… that is if you don't die from blood loss."

They both share a small laugh together and Urotsuki rolls on her side to wrap her right arm around his chest. Masada smiles as he feels so happy and amazed how his day, ever since he decided to hang out with Urotsuki in the country, went from being miserable to feeling like a king after eating a delicious feast. He closes his eyes and lets out a sigh to express his contentment. It seemed like nothing was going to ruin his day at all.

Suddenly, as he opens his eyes to look at his friend, he instead sees Monoe running away and the scenery has changed from the Japanese country side to the nearby park. Confused, and without an idea of what is going on, he immediately gets up from his place on the grass and looks around. He finds a mirror on the ground and looks into it, seeing his older self in the reflection.

He tosses the mirror away and starts running, horrified of what is happening to him. He soon reaches the end of the park and sees a burning building with the voices of little girls screaming.

"What the hell is going on?" He yells in utter consternation. He hears someone approach him from behind and turns around to see Madotsuki's father, with a loaded revolver in his hand.

"You left my daughter in there?" He asks furiously as he clicks the hammer of the weapon. Before Masada could speak at all, the gun goes off, plunging a bullet into his chest and jolting him awake. He quickly rises from the bed, breathing heavily, and looks around. Madotsuki was still in bed, resting peacefully, and the stuff in the bedroom seemed normal. He relaxes a little as he looks at the clock on the end table.

"5:26am… might as well get up now and get it over with." He thinks as he leans over to turn off the alarm and gets out of bed. He gets his clothes from the nearby dresser, along with his suit from the closet, and walks into the bathroom. He sighs and, after closing the door, starts undressing. The air in the bathroom, surprisingly cold, makes Masada shiver as he walks into the shower chamber and starts up the water. The warm water does little to calm him down as he begins washing his hair.

"I wonder if I have to wake her up, or if she is going to wake up by herself?" He asks himself as he rinses himself off. Minutes pass before he turns off the water and walks out of the shower chamber to grab a towel.

He hears knocking on the bathroom door and he says, "Madotsuki, I'm busy drying myself off. Give me a moment."

Madotsuki stands at the door and says half asleep, "Okay, sensei."

She walks back to the bed and climbs up the side of it. A minute passes by and Masada opens the door, wearing his school teacher attire. She hops off the bed and says, "My turn."

Masada simply nods as he exits the bedroom and walks into the kitchen. Madotsuki grabs her school clothes from her suit cases and, after setting up a nice afternoon set to use on the bed, and walks into the bathroom. After a moment, she is now in the shower room, washing herself and feeling happy.

"I've never stayed at Masada's place before… what I should have for breakfast?" She ponders as she continues to wash up. Several minutes pass and Madotsuki turns off the water. She exits the shower chamber and grabs a towel to dry herself off. As she scrubs away at her body with the towel, she sees a letter on the bathroom floor, dated April 24rd, 1998.

She reads, "My dear Masada, I cannot stay any longer. My business needs to be taken elsewhere, for there is someone I need to visit that cannot wait any longer. She is in grave danger and, if I'm not quick enough, she may die before I get there. Please understand that we may never see each other again for a very long time, even if things go successfully. With love, Urotsuki."

She places it on the counter and, after making sure that she isn't going to leave water puddles wherever she goes, puts on her school clothes before exiting the bathroom. She walks out of the bedroom and towards the kitchen, where she meets Masada, eating jam toast.

"Cereal is in the pantry. You know where it is." He says as he raises the slice of bread to his mouth. Madotsuki walks to the pantry and grabs the box of cereal in sight.

She grabs a bowl and, as she fills it with cereal, asks, "Sensei? Were you good friends with Urotsuki?"

Masada nearly chokes on his toast from the sudden mention of her name and, after recovering slightly, replies, "We were… but that was such a long time ago." Madotsuki walks to the fridge and opens it. She grabs the milk and, after closing the door, takes it to the kitchen table along with the cereal.

She pours the milk onto the cereal and, while walking to the kitchen, asks, "What's it like being a teacher?" Masada answers after finishing up his last piece of toast, "It's like I never left the horrible class room I was forced to learn things in, except I now have to pay for someone else's bad karma."

Madotsuki laughs as she walks back to the table after putting milk back in the fridge. As she sits down and starts eating her cereal, Masada gets up and walks to the kitchen sink with his toast dish. He puts the dish into the sink and says, "Just put your bowl in the sink. I'll load up the dishwasher before we'll leave."

Madotsuki nods as she begins eating her cereal. Masada walks to apartment door and opens it to see a newspaper is already here. He picks up a newspaper and opens it up, only to be in complete shock from the headline. He closes the door solemnly as he walks towards the kitchen table and, as he sits at his usual place, he presses his hand against his forehead with a somber look. Madotsuki sees Masada and asks with concern, "What's wrong, sensei?"

He reads from the beginning potion of the story under the headline, "A young man, identified to be age 24 Shitai, had been found dead in the middle of the country side road after he was assumed to be hit by a school bus. Officials, after investigating the scene, have determined that Shitai was under the influence of alcohol..."

Madotsuki swallows some cereal and says, "I thought you hated the guy."

Masada puts the newspaper down and says, "I wanted him to grow up and accept responsibility. I didn't want him to actually get hit by a bus."

Madotsuki stays silent as she continues to eat the cereal, until she finishes the last of the bowl's contents. She walks to the kitchen with the bowl and places it gently in the sink. Masada gets up from the table and starts walking towards the bathroom, while Madotsuki yells, "Sensei? When do we leave?"

He stops in his tracks and replies, "When I'm done in the bathroom and you're ready." She walks to the nearby living room chairs and plops herself into one. She closes her eyes and starts humming a happy theme.

"I'll never understand Sensei at this rate." She thinks as she slowly starts to lose conscience. She feels the familiar whisk and finds herself in the same place as she dreamed of the first time she slept at Masada's: The long road, the trees, the rain, and even the large tunnel to the east. This time, she sees Shitai's lifeless body on the road, blood accumulating around his pants and sweater along with parts of his face decomposing. The sight of such a body is making Madotsuki nauseous enough to start vomiting her breakfast. She also sees traffic cones around him, blocking off any way to progress westward. As she walks to the east, she sees a strange person with a pink and red jelly fish head and red long thin drapes covering its body. Without the ability to tell if it is really a living creature, she softly touches its head.

The sound of a wind chime play and she suddenly whisks away to a strange white world. The scenery looks extremely basic, like someone drew it with a black marker on a white board. As she walks several steps eastward, a strange white puffy creature spontaneously appears and starts hovering around her in circles. Initially freaked out by the creature, she starts running eastward until she sees a cave with a strange person in front of it.

"Hey, little girl." He says with an overly enthusiastic tone.

She stares at him strangely and replies, "H-hello?"

He says, "My name is Dave Spector. I'm a very famous person, you know." She continues to stare at him blankly, without anything to say.

"I take it you're a very adoring fan, aren't you?" He says before he sees her brandish her knife and slowly walk toward him, with a twisted grin on her face.

"W-what are you doing?" He asks nervously as he slowly backs away. Before he could turn around and run away, he feels the knife plunged into his chest and ripping out the side of him.

"Why are you d-doing this?" He asks weakly as Madotsuki stabs him again in the face to secure a quick kill. She removes the knife from his skull and wipes the blade clean with her shirt. Curious by the nearby cave entrance, she walks into it and finds herself in a small tunnel. She sees Monoko standing nearby, with a blank expression on her face.

"Monoko!" She calls to her, but fails to get her attention. She hears a small trinket hit the cave floor and looks down to find a stop light shaped flash light.

"Monoko? Are you feeling okay?" She asks, grabbing and turning on the light. Suddenly, Madotsuki hears something block the cave door and Monoko suddenly starts convulsing. Madotsuki watches in horror as Monoko's left eye ruptures and starts dripping fluid while she screams as her elbows grow a new pair of arms. Just when Monoko couldn't get more repulsing to Madotsuki, a lone hand starts emerging from her head. Monoko lets out a hellish scream as she slowly lumbers toward Madotsuki.

"S-stay back!" Madotsuki yells as she equips her knife. As Monoko doesn't relent in her lumbering, Madotsuki aggressively stabs Monoko in the chest, but Monoko doesn't even flinch or blink from the blow, despite bleeding viciously from the chest. Madotsuki lets out a terrified scream as Monoko grabs her. She feels Monoko lick the side of her face, leaving thick disgusting saliva with a few bubbles.

"Get off!" Madotsuki screams as she pushes Monoko off of her and stabs her repeatedly to the face, but the blows do not stop her at all. She drops her knife out of horror and starts cowering where the entrance once was.

"Madotsuki! Wake up; you're having a bad dream!" a blurry Masada says to her as she suddenly jolts awake, with a terrified look on her face. She softly whimpers as she holds onto him, sniffling and tearing up in the eyes.

"We have to go now. Try to not sleep in the car." He says as he helps her out of the chair. She runs to the bedroom to get her backpack and runs back towards the apartment door, still pink in the eyes.

"Ready." She says, still shaken.

Masada, curious about what she was dreaming, asks as he grabs his suitcase from the kitchen table, "What were you dreaming about?"

She answers as he walks to the apartment door, "Monoko turned into a zombie monster and, no matter what I did, I couldn't stop her from trying to eat me!

Masada, opening the door, says, "Again, try to not fall asleep in the car or at school. I don't want to stop class to make sure you're okay."

She nods as she follows him out the door with her backpack. The two, after locking the door, walk through the hallway, exit the building, and walk towards his car, parked nearby. Masada unlocks the doors and gets in with Madotsuki. He asks after starting the car and while pulling out of his parking spot, "What would you like for dinner?"

She answers in a more calm tone, "Waffles."

He shrugs his shoulders and replies, "Fair enough…" as they exit the parking lot and begin the drive to the school building.


	11. Chapter 10: Masada's Classroom

Chapter 10: Masada's Classroom

Masada enters the teacher's parking lot and pulls into his usual vacant spot. As he turns off the engine, he says, "Here we are."

He and Madotsuki exit the vehicle and walk together into the school building. The halls, usually bustling with people during the day, are barren and only the muffled sound of the receptionist's typing can be heard from inside the nearby principal's office. Masada, with Madotsuki following him closely, walks down the hallway and takes a left into a different hallway, before stopping at a door labeled "132". He fiddles with his keys and unlocks the door. He opens the door and turns on the lights.

"Yup, I get to sit around for a solid twenty minute time span before the students come in for homeroom. Then, the fifty minute classes and ten minute breaks begin." He says as he sets his briefcase onto the teacher's table and opens it, revealing a small laptop, a few folders, a binder, pencils and pens. He takes out the items and turns on the laptop while Madotsuki stands nearby. She walks to a nearby seat and plops herself into it.

"Sensei, it's interesting to be at school before everyone else." Madotsuki says in an interested tone, "The halls are actually quiet, the floor designs are actually visible, and Sensei Oni isn't here to ruin our days."

The door opens and, lo and behold, Oni walks in, with a foul expression on his face. "Masada, why is a student here before 7:20?" he asks as he sees Madotsuki.

"I'm currently her legal guardian for about two weeks. I figured that bringing in here this soon would save me a lot of trouble." Masada replies, still working with his laptop.

"Bullshit, you brought her in here so we can have ourselves a fun toy to play with!" Oni says with a wry tone, causing Madotsuki's eyes to widen and Masada to glower at him.

"Oni, if you touch her, I will be forced to kick your ass." Masada says, cracking his knuckles. Oni laughs, "Oh I see, you want her for yourself… typical Masada, always keeping things to yourself like a selfish asshole…"

Masada, with his face red with anger, says, "Get out of my classroom, Oni!"

Oni says in a casual tone, "Alright then, mister moral, I'll stop having fun…" He leaves the class room, winking at Madotsuki, as Masada lets out a painful groan.

"How do you work with that guy?" She asks, feeling filthy from Oni's presence.

"Thankfully, he doesn't show up in here more than once every few days." Masada says, regaining his composure.

The clock now reads 7:16 and Madotsuki asks, "What should I do?"

Masada replies, "Just wait until the bell rings and then go to homeroom."

A few minutes pass and Madotsuki, after hearing the bell ring, gets up from her place and walks out the door. Masada thinks, "Time to start business" as his home room students start walking coming into the classroom. Over two hours pass before Madotsuki walks into the Masada's classroom again, this time with nineteen other students.

"Good morning, class. Let's get started immediately." He says in a tired tone. The students equip their musical instruments while Madotsuki grabs her flute.

"Alright, let's see how the flute players are doing…" He says, pointing to six students, including Madotsuki, with flutes. The flute practice starts off smoothly until Madotsuki starts playing a few wrong notes halfway through the piece. Masada snaps his fingers to stop the music and walks over to Madotsuki.

"Madotsuki, you suddenly shifted into the key of D, please stay in C Major." He says before going back to his desk.

The music restarts to the beginning and, this time, Madotsuki plays the correct tune. "Excellent! Now, let's here from the guitar players." He says. The sounds of strings play ever so gracefully in key of C Major, with the exception of one guy who didn't tune his bottom strings right. "Please tune your strings a bit more properly, or change strings if you need to." He says.

As the minutes fly, the time is now 8:21 and class has been dismissed. Madotsuki asks, "Masada? How good did I play?"

He replies, "Aside from slipping into key of D, there wasn't a problem."

She smiles and says, "Waffles for dinner." He nods and returns to his laptop. She hugs him briefly before leaving the classroom and he closes his eyes, feeling a bit happier since the day started.

"Sadly, that was the good class… the 7th and 8th graders are horrible at music for some reason, no matter how much I help them…" He thinks as he looks into the clock. The hours go by until noon, when Masada's stomach starts rumbling. He opens his desk and finds a pack of crackers and noodles. He shrugs his shoulders as he opens the pack of dry noodles and starts eating them. After the noodles and crackers, he walks out of the classroom and starts drinking from the nearby fountain.

The janitor notices Masada and says, "You're a lucky man to be with such a cutie."

Masada rolls his eyes as he replies, "Yeah, she's a real doll, alright." The janitor walks away as Masada walks back to the classroom. The bell rings at 12:30 and the 10th grade students, including Monoe and Poniko, walk into his classroom to begin their music session. As time passes some more between classes, the 3:30pm bell rings and, soon enough, Madotsuki enters the class room to hug her favorite teacher.

"Hello, sensei…" She says with a small amount of blush.

Masada smiles slightly and replies, "Good day, Madotsuki…"She walks to a front row seat and sits in it with a tired look. She never did realize how comfortable the seat was and slowly drifts off to sleep. As she feels the whisking happen, she finds herself outside of the cave, standing next to Dave Spector.

"You know, little girl. I didn't like what you did to me earlier today…" He says in a disgusted tone. She rolls her eyes and, once again, equips her knife to deal with Dave.

"Not again!" He says as he feels the blade goes through his chest and up his neck, eventually leaving up the front of his skull.

This time, she looks around the cave and sees another entrance. She walks into this newly discovered cave and sees that it leads to a big black void. She walks through it, surprised that she doesn't just start falling forever, and sees Monoe in a good short distance. Madotsuki, pleased to at least see someone else who has cared for her in the past, walks toward Monoe and says, "Hi, Monoe!"

Monoe turns around and, while an image of Monoe's smile floods through Madotsuki's system, vanishes without a trace. When the image fades out, Madotsuki doesn't see Monoe in front of her anymore.

"Huh?" Madotsuki thinks as she looks around to find Monoe to the cave entrance, standing still and smiling as usual.

"Monoe, are you feeling alright?" She asks, only for the same image to flood her vision and for Monoe to vanish again. This time, Madotsuki doesn't find Monoe anywhere nearby.

"Fine then! Ignore your only other friend, you weirdo!" She yells, tired of Monoe's constant teleporting. She walks out of the cave and sees the gray suited man approach her.

"What do you want?" She asks in a very displeased tone.

"What's your favorite season?" He asks in a curious tone.

"Winter, why?" She asks.

"I personally love fall." He says, making Madotsuki suddenly fall through the floor and into a black void, similar to the cave Monoe was dwelling in.

She soon blacks out and eventually wakes up in a room with a large number of beds nearby.

"Where am I?" She thinks as she hears footsteps. A toriningen walks out from a corner of a walkway and, as she sees Madotsuki in a bed, screams, "What the hell are you doing here? Those beds are for my toriningen sisters!"

Madotsuki quickly climbs out of the bed and says, "Sorry…"

The toriningen says, "If my sisters find you here, they would shred you to pieces for resting in their beds!"

Madotsuki walks toward the south end of the room and sees a pile of blood accumulating from a hole in the wall.

"I wouldn't go in there. Shelly and Marina are in there and they would not be happy at all to see you again; especially after what happened two months ago." The toriningen says with concern.

Madotsuki turns around and says, "For a toriningen, you're kind of polite…"

The toriningen replies, "Most of us just don't have the patience to be polite for even our sisters. You could tell I'm an outcast amongst the others."

Madotsuki says, "I appreciate you being polite."

The toriningen starts tearing up and says, "I just want to be loved!"

Madotsuki suddenly feels the toriningen wrap her arms around her and hears the toriningen softly cry. Madotsuki, feeling a little bad for the toriningen, hugs her in return and says, "There, there…"

Suddenly, a closet to the distance opens up and two familiar toriningen, Alice and Marina, walk out from the open doors.

"Sally, you got her? I just figured you would cry yourself to sleep like always!" Shelly says with a laugh.

"Seriously, now hand her over, dipshit. You're not going to take the credit for something we were originally assigned to do!" Marina says, pulling out a small pistol and pulling down the hammer.

"Madotsuki! Run for your life!" 'Sally' yells and, as Madotsuki begins running to the north, Marina fires several shots into Sally's back, causing her to fall over. Marina simply walks over and shoots Sally in the back of the head before saying, "Stupid bitch! You weren't worth anything!"

Madotsuki, before running down the eastern corridor that hold the door out of here, looks in horror as the only friendly toriningen she had ever met, Sally, just got gunned down by a pair of homicidal toriningen that only lusted for reward of Madotsuki's capture. She snaps back into it and runs for the door when the toriningen stop paying attention to Sally's body. She opens the door and runs through it, not bothering to close it, as she runs eastward to a possible way out. She soon finds a tunnel that leads north and sees the metallic door from before.

"There's my way out!" She thinks as she runs closer to it, only to see a bullet hit the side of it, ensuring the thought that her hunters have caught up with her. "You go through that door, and you'll be just like the key maker!" Marina smugly remarks as she reloads and cocks her pistol. Cowering against the door, Madotsuki fears for the worst as the toriningen walks closer, step by step.

A voice calls out, "Hey, worm breath, go pick on someone your own size!" and a rifle blast was heard. Marina looks in shock that her pistol had just shattered in half as she turns around to find Masada with a rifle in his hands.

Masada says as he readies another shot, "Take another step. I dare you."

Marina yells, "Masada? Are you breaking our pact of neutrality?"

Masada replies, "You never said anything about hunting Madotsuki. Leave now and you won't find yourself dead again."

Marina spits on the ground as she shoves Madotsuki out of her way and opens the metallic door. As the two toriningen walk out the door, Madotsuki rushes to Masada.

"Sensei! I didn't know you had a weapon!"

Masada simply says, "I do whatever it takes to keep you safe."

She suddenly feels the world around her start fading out of place and she slowly awakens at her desk. She, after wiping any drool from her mouth, looks at the clock and sees it reading 4:53pm.

"Sensei? Will we leave soon?" She asks groggily.

Masada replies, "In about five minutes or so. I need to finish something up." She sighs and, as five minutes slowly pass without any sleep, Masada successfully turns off his laptop.

He packs up his suitcase and says, "Alright, I'm ready to go."

Madotsuki grabs her backpack and the two walk out of the classroom. After they walk out of the building, Madotsuki asks, "What kind of waffles will we have for dinner?"

Masada replies as they approach his car, "I figured we can use the frozen waffles at home."

She starts salivating from the prospect of eating waffles with syrup, with Masada nearby to provide a nice person to talk with. They both open the doors after Masada unlocks them and get in their seats. He starts the car up and slowly backs out of his parking place.

He exits the parking lot and makes a left turn after getting to the road. Masada's car was never that much of a high class vehicle. The car had red carpet, the speedometer read that he had over two hundred fifteen thousand kilometers, the car speakers crackled a lot, and the door locking mechanisms wouldn't automatically unlock for the two back doors of his car if he tried turning the key twice. He continues driving down the road for a good twenty five minutes, with the occasional turn and stop for a red light. He eventually reaches the apartment building and pulls into his usual spot. He turns off the car and the two get out of the vehicle.

"That was quicker than the bus!" Madotsuki says as they grab their things from the car. They close the doors and start walking towards the building. They soon enter and make a right turn to the first floor hallway. Monoe and Poniko, standing outside of Monoe's apartment, see the two walking by and greet them.

"Good day, Ladies." Masada says as they walk by.

"I heard through the imaginary grape vine that you two are living with each other until Halloween." Monoe says, getting Masada's attention.

"Her parents are out of town for a business trip." Masada replies as he stops in his tracks.

"Have you two done anything unmentionable yet?" Poniko says with a dirty smile.

"Knock it off, Poniko. It's been a long day for us both and we just want to relax." Masada says in an annoyed tone.

"Fine, have it your way." She replies, turning her head the other way.

Monoe says, "Just wanted to say, hope it goes well."

Masada continues walking down the hallway until he reaches his door. Madotsuki follows him as he unlocks the door and walks inside. They walk into the living room and, after Madotsuki plops herself into the chair she always sits in, Masada walks towards the bedroom and says, "I'm going to change into something more comfortable."

She nods quietly as she relaxes in the chair. Only a few brief moments later, Masada opens the door and walks out, wearing his black shirt and pants. Madotsuki gets up from the chair and walks into the bedroom to change as well. She takes off her outfit and, after closing the door and before putting on her clothes, walks into the bathroom naked with her afternoon clothes.

She looks at herself and sees blood slowly dripping again. She sighs as she cleans it up with some toilet paper and begins putting on her clothes. A moment later, she looks into the mirror and smiles from the sight of her comfy pink shirt and dark pink skirt. She soon walks out from the bathroom and climbs up onto the bed. She rests her head on a pillow and closes her eyes, anticipating the usual whisking.

"I hope to meet you again, my love; for soon, we may be together again." She softly thinks.


	12. Chapter 11: Masada you didn't, did you?

Chapter 11: Masada; you didn't, did you?

When the whisking stops, Madotsuki finds herself in her apartment room, once again without the famicom in sight. She walks towards the door when she sees a coin labeled, "509, 10-30-08, 15:23" Assuming it to be another hint for a room she could visit during the specified time, she puts it into her pocket and opens the door. The nexus of doors looked just as strange as it did the first time she ever saw it.

As she takes her first few steps, she hears a voice call out, "Hi Mado!" She turns to her left to see a completely normal Monoko.

"Monoko! What happened this morning? You turned into a zombie thing and tried to eat me!" Madotsuki says in a tense tone.

Monoko gives her a strange look and replies, "I don't recall something like that happening… but I do recall blacking out as soon as you used that stoplight flashlight thingy."

Madotsuki asks, "Did anything hurt during your 'black out'?"

Monoko nods and replies, "Yeah, all the sudden my head and arms hurt, my eye felt like it was burning up, and there was even this feeling like I was just stabbed in the chest with a knife…" Madotsuki eyes around, trying to stay quiet.

"So what's up, Mado?" She asks with genuine curiosity.

"Sensei Masada's going to make waffles for dinner." Madotsuki replies, already drooling a little.

"Sensei? He couldn't cook a pack of ramen right to save his life, and you try to trust him with waffles?" Monoko says, trying to hold back laughter. Madotsuki stays silent with a stern look on her face as she walks past Monoko.

"Bye, Mado!" Monoko says happily as Madotsuki walks through the pink door to the right.

"Now where am I?" She asks herself as she sees large pictures of Aztec creatures. She walks towards the south for a good distance until she encounters a similar creature like the one back in the storage facility near Masada's spaceship. She pets it on the head and lets it lick her hand. She giggles a little as it barks happily before she starts walking eastward.

After a little while, she finds a sewer hole. Not knowing any better, she opens it up and begins climbing down. The sewer doesn't smell too bad, but nevertheless it is still unpleasant. She takes a few steps forward and tries going the eastern path of two possible options, but soon encounters a large blob in the way. Curiosity strikes again as she equips her knife and tries to stab blob, but it only jiggles and spawns a sad facial expression.

She turns around and tries the other way. After walking for a small bit, she enters a tunnel and finds herself going on a catwalk over some sewer water. She continues her stride as she sees various creatures in the water, like a shadow man from the barracks or a strange green Uboa like creature. Eventually, she enters another tunnel and enters a more sewer like area. A faceless ghost catches her sight as she walks toward a large sickly green vat of water. When she touches the ghost, she suddenly feels like she just absorbed something. She shrugs it off and walks toward a northern tunnel entrance. She finds herself in a long tunnel with dark holes in the walls.

A vision of a strange, demented creature floods her vision as she approaches a nearby hole, with each hole having its own creature vision. She reaches the end of the tunnel and exits the sewers, only to be greeted by a gigantic red head with an open mouth. The head doesn't seem to be able to move, according to how still it is.

Madotsuki slowly walks on its tongue and thinks, "Wow, this tongue is really soft. What kind of statue is this?"

Suddenly, before she could react, the mouth closes and she gets sent down the esophagus. A moment later after closing her eyes and bracing for impact, she soon finds herself in a new world, without a clue where to go.

"I wonder if that pinching trick works here…" She thinks as she sharply pinches her cheek. She immediately jolts awake and thinks, "That worked. Now, time to see what Sensei is up to."

She hops off the bed and walks out of the bedroom. She walks into the kitchen to find Masada at the microwave, about to cook some waffles. "Hello, Sensei." She says warmly.

"Oh hi. Just about to get this started." He replies while playing with the microwave. Madotsuki feels a thought come to mind as she digs through her pocket to find, rather unsurprisingly, the coin from her recent dream.

"Sensei, I found another coin in my pocket. Are you sure you aren't putting things in there while I'm asleep?" She asks in a disturbed tone.

"Madotsuki, I assure you. I'm not doing anything of that sort." He says, finally starting the microwave. She plops herself in a nearby chair as the microwave continues its noise. After a few minutes, the microwave beeps and Masada takes out a plate of waffles, steaming and looking tasty. He grabs some syrup from the cupboard and places it in the microwave.

"Waffles are done. Syrup will be done in a little bit." He says as he gets two glasses from a different cupboard. A few more minutes pass, long after the syrup was done, as Masada and Madotsuki sit down at the table with two glasses filled with milk along with two plates with a few waffles each. A warm bottle of syrup is positioned between the two plates and two glasses.

Masada says, "You get to use the syrup first." Madotsuki smiles as she takes the syrup and squeezes out a huge blob onto her waffles. She gives Masada the syrup and picks up a waffle with her fork. She takes a big bite of the syrup coated waffle and smiles graciously.

Sensei?" She asks after swallowing her huge mouthful of waffle.

"Yes?" He replies as he cuts his waffle stack into hexagonal slices.

"What will you get for Monoe's birthday on Wednesday? She's going to turn 16." Madotsuki asks him, preparing to put another piece of waffle into her mouth.

Masada replies in a weird tone, "Monoe is… an interesting girl to say the least. Unlike most teenage girls, she spends most of her time playing Quake multiplayer and talking with Poniko online. I don't know what to get her besides more RAM or a hard drive that isn't from 1998."

Madotsuki asks, "Isn't her computer made in 2003?"

Masada replies, "Yeah, but she had to perform open heart surgery on it because her built in hard drive died and she didn't have anything else to work with. Space is a huge concern for her."

Madotsuki nods as she and Masada continue eating their waffles. After a few minutes, Madotsuki pats her stomach softly and says, "That was amazing, Sensei."

Masada, wiping his mouth clean, says, "Glad to see you happy."

Madotsuki asks, "Masada, can we try doing something together?"

Masada says, "Sure, but what do you have in mind?"

Madotsuki looks into his eyes with a sultry look and says, "A little showering…" Masada immediately shoots blood out of his nose and stares at her with a look of extreme disbelief.

"Buh… fuh… wuh…" He stammers as Madotsuki looks at him with concern, "Sure, I g-guess?"

He walks to the bedroom with his eyes wide open as Madotsuki follows him. He grabs his boxers and bathrobe and Madotsuki grabs her pajamas. The two enter the bathroom and begin the rather awkward process of undressing. Masada watches Madotsuki take off her shirt, skirt, bra, and panties quickly. He stares at her smooth, featureless body. He takes his shirt off along with, as Madotsuki starts to blush, his pants. He slowly takes off his briefs to reveal his penis. Madotsuki, blushing a lot, looks at it and asks, "Is that a boy's pee-pee, Sensei?"

Masada groans as he, along with Madotsuki, enter the shower chamber and start the water. She wraps her arms around his chest and nuzzles her face on it while Masada stands still and thinks, "I'm going straight to hell for this."

She looks up at him and says, "Sensei…"

He raises an eyebrow at her as she says, "I love you…"

He stares at her and says awkwardly, "I… love you… too?" She giggles and passes him the shampoo bottle.

He takes it and, before it could squeeze some out on his hand, Madotsuki asks, "Can you wash my hair, Sensei?"

He sighs and, after squeezing out a blob of shampoo on his hand, starts soaping up Madotsuki's hair. She moans softly as he gently rinses her hair out.

"Sensei, do you really love me?" She softly asks as he pours out a blob for himself.

"Well... this is just so awkward…" Masada replies, causing Madotsuki to suddenly show a strange facial expression.

"What's so wrong about us?" She asks as she cuddles up to him, resting her head on his upper torso. He looks at Madotsuki as she plops herself against the chamber floor and starts to feel around her vagina.

"Sensei, why does it sting when I rub myself down there?" She asks with a look of pain. Masada plops himself against the wall on the floor. "Why did I agree to do thi- " He asks before Madotsuki suddenly crawls onto his lap and kisses him on the mouth. "Shh." She says as she backs from his mouth. Masada closes his eyes as he places his hands on her back. She lets out an adorable moan as she rests her head on his shoulder.

"Sensei… let me be yours…" She softly speaks, trying to hold back barely noticeable tears of joy.

He reopens his eyes and asks in a soft tone, "Shall I?"

She backs away from him and nods slowly. Masada grabs his penis and slowly inserts the head into Madotsuki's vagina. She yelps and groans in pain, but she affirms to him, "Don't stop… keep going, my love…"

He finally reaches a stopping point and Madotsuki starts slowly rising up and down. The pleasure and pain is beyond her imagination.

"Sensei! I… I…" She stammers before Masada says, "I can't hold on… much longer…"

He pulls out quickly and climaxes onto Madotsuki's vagina. She rests herself on Masada as the two lovers enjoy the warm water raining down on them. The moment was precious as she closes her eyes and rests on his body, worn out from their 'experience'. Suddenly, Masada opens his eyes and realizes what he had done.

He thinks as he enters a state of panic, "I just screwed the man's girl… I am so dead…"

Madotsuki opens her eyes and looks at Masada's panicked expression and asks, "Sensei, what's wrong?"

He gets up, pours some shampoo onto his head, quickly scrubs, quickly rinses, and turns off the water. He exits the shower and says, "Let's just say, I got back to my senses a little too late."

She walks out of the shower and says, "But what happened back there was magical! Please don't abandon me, Sensei…" She hugs him, while he shudders from what he had done. They both dry off with the two towels nearby and, after a few minutes, put on their night clothes. Masada, dressed in his boxers and bathrobe, and Madotsuki, dressed in her pink pajamas, exit the bathroom, holding hands, as they get on the bed to relax.

As she snuggles up to him, he asks in a estranged tone, "How did it feel, by the way?"

She replies, "It was amazing…"

He looks at the alarm clock on the end table that reads 8:59. Masada says, "I say it's about time we pack up early tonight."

He notices that Madotsuki is already asleep and gently pulls the covers over her. He takes off his bathrobe and, after remembering that the apartment door is locked, pulls the covers over himself.

"Good night, Madotsuki." He says gently as he closes his eyes. Meanwhile, in Madotsuki's head, she finds herself in her apartment room.

She walks to the door and thinks, "Time for, yet, another journey."


	13. Chapter 12: Tread carefully

Chapter 12: Tread carefully…

Madotsuki walks out the door of her dream world apartment, only to be greeted by the sight of the gray suited man

"I know about what you did back there, Madotsuki. I'm not pleased with you in the slightest." He remarks with a disgusted tone.

She glowers at him and replies, "Go away! I don't want anything to do with you after you made me fall through the floor!"

The gray suited man lets out a laugh and says, "Admit it, your precious 'Sensei' would have laughed."

Madotsuki yells back, "No! He wouldn't ever do that!"

He raises an eyebrow as he smugly replies, "Really now? What basis do you have that would mean Masada isn't just a man that struggles to survive in the modern world and, instead, the fabled hero you make him out to be?

Madotsuki stays silent for a moment and then he says, "Yeah, I thought so."

He slowly fades from sight while laughing maniacally.

"Jerk…" Madotsuki thinks as she goes back into her apartment and climbs onto her bed. She pulls the covers over herself and closes her eyes. The whisking begins and sends her to the stairway of hands. She quickly walks down the steps and runs through the next hallway with the elevator.

She quickly charges around the shelves in the storage area and, while still in the room, says to the furry mouth blob, "Sorry, boy, I don't have the time."

She barely catches the whining of the creature before climbing up the stairs and running through the space ship. She sees Masada at his space piano, playing a small melody and writing notes, and says, "Hi, Sensei!"

He turns around and smiles. As she rushes over to hug him, the gray suited man appears beside her and causes her to trip by extending out his leg. She tumbles to the floor as Masada glares at him. "Look at yourself, Masada. You have played in her hands and made yourself a pawn under her watchful conscience." He says before Madotsuki, rising from the floor and brandishing her knife, yells, "Sensei, don't listen to him!"

Masada looks around with a confused expression as the gray suited man says, "Heed my words and I can make you a free man. Not even Uboa himself could tarnish your new found knowledge, should you accept."

With rage flowing through her veins, she brutally stabs the gray suited man in the back while he was distracted. He grips his side and says, "Madotsuki, you're out of your element. Be a good little girl and stop controlling the poor fool before he suffers my fate…"

She stabs him again in the back and says, "Stop it! You're only trying to make him a bad guy!"

The gray suited man laughs as he double over in pain. "Madotsuki, what you're experiencing is the unholy feel of power. You have let it take you over and, instead of being one with the dream, you manipulate it without any fear of action or consequence!" he says just before Madotsuki performs one last stab to his head.

The gray suited man rests against the ground in a bloody heap as pieces of his clothing and skin start to chip away like textures to a 3d model in a videogame. Masada stares at Madotsuki, unable to respond to the situation without fear of also being attacked for expressing a differing opinion to hers.

"He's finally gone! He'll never torment me again!" She says happily, almost hysterically. Masada slowly steps back a few feet before Madotsuki catches on to his actions.

She asks, "Wait, Sensei! Where are you going?"

He continues to step away from her out of fear while she says, "It's okay! I won't hurt you!"

He continues to eye the blade carefully. She sighs and puts the knife away, immediately calming Masada down. The two walk toward each other and embrace comfortably. Outside of Madotsuki's dream world, Masada holds her closely and closes his eyes in an attempt to sleep.

Elsewhere, Monoe sits on her bed and asks Poniko, who is also sitting nearby, "How is Masada faring with Madotsuki? I can't imagine the two not being friends, the way the walked in from the parking lot."

Poniko replies after yawning, "She is probably sleeping or some shit. Madotsuki is a boring person; it's hard to imagine anything going on with the two."

Monoe says, "I wouldn't dismiss the possibility that soon, Poniko. There could be doing something that would easily break the platonic look they have going on."

Poniko sighs and says, "Look, I said it before and I'll say it again: All Madotsuki does is sleep and all Masada does is play his piano, watch television, or read crap.

Monoe shrugs her shoulders and says, "I guess we can go with that for now… want to help me set up Vice City?"

Poniko smiles and says, "Sure, if you turn on flying and spawn a tank so I can fly around in it."

Monoe gets off her bed and walks to the computer. She turns on the power button and says, "While we're waiting, go get my 'Tokuto' cup from the fridge and fill it with cranberry juice."

Poniko gags slightly as she exits the room and heads for the kitchen. She opens the fridge door and grabs the Tokuto cup along with the cranberry juice. She quickly fills the cup with juice and puts the juice back in the fridge. As she walks to the sisters' bedroom, passing by Monoko who is playing Mega man X2 on the living room television; she sniffs the drink and nearly coughs.

"This stuff is as close to gut wrenching as Monoe is legally allowed to get around these parts." She thinks as she walks in the bedroom and passes Monoe her drink.

"Thank you." She says as she takes a big gulp. Poniko stares at her in amazement by the lack of coughing, gagging, or even shuttering from the strong taste.

"Monoe, what kind of taste buds do you have?" Poniko asks in surprise, still shocked that Monoe drank the juice without any reaction. Monoe replies as she stares at the installation screen for Vice City, "I happen to love cranberry juice." The installation soon completes and Monoe starts up the program.

"Nice to see that we will engage in some sexy flying tank action soon enough." Poniko states in an amused tone. The game finishes loading and Monoe skips the first few cut scenes. She then pauses the game and starts typing in cheat codes.

Poniko says as she sees Monoe unpause the game and spawn a tank, "Start flying, Amelia!"

Monoe says, "Poniko, you know how to play the game better than me, you play with the tank."

Poniko shrugs her shoulders and trades places with Monoe. Monoe exits the bedroom with her Tokuto cup and walks to the living room where she sees Monoko.

"Monoko, do you mind if I sit on the couch and try to relax?" She asks. Monoko shakes her head and Monoe plops herself onto the couch, resting her head against its arm. Meanwhile, back in Masada's apartment, Madotsuki still snoozes peacefully. Inside of her dream world, she finds herself lurking a strange plane that consists of candles. She walks eastward until she sees a bed, guarded by a toriningen.

"What are yo- Oh it doesn't matter. You can sleep in the damn bed if you want, I've stopped caring about the bed a long time ago." She says, taking a cigarette to her mouth and lighting it up with a match in her other hand. Madotsuki stares at her until she turns the other way. Madotsuki brandishes her knife and tries to stab the toriningen in the back, but the stab doesn't seem to do anything but give Madotsuki away. Afraid that the toriningen is going to kill her, Madotsuki starts running. The toriningen raises an eyebrow and, with lightning speed, tackles Madotsuki before she could react.

"How did you move so quickly?" She asks, still shaken by such speed.

"Wheaties, breakfast of champions." It replies in a surly tone. Madotsuki tries to resist the toriningen's iron grip, but her efforts are futile as the toriningen tightens her grip around Madotsuki even more.

"What are you going to do to me?" Madotsuki asks.

"This!" She says as she whacks Madotsuki in the head and knocks her out cold. After 5 minutes, Madotsuki awakens and finds herself in the red world she visited two months ago, except she is locked in a tiny room with no way out in sight. She groans as she looks around hopelessly.

"Stupid toriningen!" She thinks as she pinches herself awake. As she jolts awake, her sudden movement also awakens Masada.

He asks, "Madotsuki, what's wrong?"

She stays quiet for a brief awkward moment before replying, "Nothing's wrong, Sensei." She nuzzles up to Masada and closes her eyes. Masada looks at the clock on the end table and sees it reading 11:18pm. He closes his eyes again and attempts to reestablish his sleep. Madotsuki, after whisking away to the dream world again, finds herself in the sewer tunnel north of the water room. She walks into the water room and finds a bike propped up against the wall with a paper tag on the handle.

She reads, "When you're done with this bike, press the blue button next to the bell tap." She shrugs her shoulders and hops on the bike. As she starts pedaling towards the eastern tunnel, she starts zooming past the sights of the water tunnel. She passes through another entrance and stops as she reaches the ladder.

As she hops off the bike, she presses the blue button on the bike handle. Suddenly with a loud popping sound, the bike turns into a white capsule with a blue button on the top.

"Heh, just like one of Monoe's childhood animes." Madotsuki thinks as she puts the capsule in her pocket and proceeds to climb up the stairs. She finds herself in the weird painting world again and with the hairy mouth blob next to her. She pets it on the head while pondering where to go. Without anticipating it, a portal suddenly opens up next to her.

Madotsuki stares at it in curiosity while the hairy mouth blob growls at it. She asks the hairy mouth blob, "Should I go in, boy?"

It nods and Madotsuki starts counting down, "3… 2… 1…"

She charges into it and a white flash over takes her body along with a high pitched buzzing sound. After a moment, the flash is gone and she opens her eyes, finding herself in the apartment building on the 3rd floor. It feels different; however, as she looks around and sees the hallway's wall paper doesn't seem to look nearly as faded as she remembers it.

A younger Masada walks in from the stairwell and walks toward door number 308. He knocks twice and, after a few moments, the door opens, revealing Urotsuki in a different looking outfit.

"Hey, Urotsuki. Ready to go out for dinner?" Masada says curiously.

"I suppose? What are we going to eat?" She asks in a plain tone after locking her door.

Madotsuki watches as the two walk to the stairwell, still talking about dinner plans.

"Komuro, I'm not that picky of an eater. We could just go to the McDonalds just a few blocks for all I care." She says.

"But it's our time together and I would like it to be special." Masada says. Urotsuki shrugs her shoulders as the two walk out of the stairwell and make a right turn towards the exit. Madotsuki walks down the stairwell and eventually exits it at the first floor. She looks ahead and sees Monoe's father talking to a very young Monoe outside of their apartment door.

"Sweety, Mommy and Daddy are a little busy with your baby sister, Monoko. I'm afraid we can't go to the park today or help you with your computer." Her father says to a Monoe.

"Okay, Daddy." She replies sadly as they open the apartment door and walk in. Madotsuki turns to the building exit and walks to the door, only to see the gray suited man start walking behind Urotsuki and Masada was they stroll down the sidewalk.

"Aren't you a little far from home, missy?" He says to Urotsuki, causing her to turn around.

"What the-? No! I thought I lost you!" She says in shock. Masada turns around and, staring at the gray suited man, asks, "What's going on?"

The gray suited man lets out a laugh as he draws out a long sword. Despite it being a busy street with some traffic, the sight of an armed man doesn't seem to faze any local pedestrians. She says to Masada, "Run!"

The couple starts running down the sidewalk. Suddenly, the grey suited man turns around, sees Madotsuki in the doorway and starts lumbering towards her. She gasps and runs to the stairwell. As she runs up the stairs and exits on the 3rd floor, she sees a portal there. Determined that getting hurt by the grey suited man is worse than what the portal would do, she runs straight through the portal. Unlike the other portal, she instantly warps back to the world with the paintings.

"I'm never going through another portal like that again." She thinks as she gets approached by the hairy mouth blob. Suddenly, the world around her starts fading to white and she begins waking up. She opens her eyes slowly as Masada gently shakes her shoulder.

"Wake up, Madotsuki." He softly says as he stops shaking her. She slowly rises from the bed and reads the clock, "5:30am… time to get up…"

She hops out of bed and sees Masada with her clothes. "Care to wait for me to get done, or not?" He asks. She smiles devilishly and walks into the bathroom with him.


	14. Chapter 13: Access Subjective

Chapter 13: Access Subjective

"Madotsuki, we have to talk." Masada speaks in a very stern tone as he grips Madotsuki's wrist, preventing her from taking off her shirt. "What we did on Monday night is something that not only shouldn't have happened, but should never be done again. Not only was it illegal, but anyone who knows about it could strip me from my job and, should it happen, send me to prison for a very long time."

"I understand, Sensei." She says.

"Good. Now, are you going to wait your turn, or do you want to go first?" He asks, letting go of her wrist.

"I'll go first." She replies.

Masada nods and walks out of the bathroom with his work clothes, leaving Madotsuki to her privacy. She closes the bathroom door and begins stripping down. She enters the shower chamber and turns the handle to start up the water. The water starts up normally, but it doesn't seem to get very hot. She simply shrugs her shoulders and begins washing herself. Three minutes pass before a thought runs through her mind regarding the Urotsuki encounter last night from her dreams.

"When Sensei was with Urotsuki, something about the gray suited man's presence didn't make sense. Why did it feel like it wasn't my dream?" She quietly asks herself while she continues to rinse off any soap that still remains on her body. Moments continue to go by as she continues to ponder the mystery behind Urotsuki. Soon, she turns off the water and opens the shower chamber door to grab a towel.

"Sensei! I'm almost done!" She yells as she starts drying herself off. She looks on the counter and sees gray card labeled "102, 10-21-08, 18:30; touch the knob." She raises an eyebrow as she leaves the card alone and continues drying herself off. She puts on her school clothes and wraps the towel around her head while she exits the bathroom. She passes Masada as she walks through the bedroom and into the hallway. As Masada enters the bathroom and closes the door, a sudden sharp pain starts periodically jolting through his head and doesn't relent in the slightest.

"What's going on? Why is this happening?" He thinks as he clutches his head. The pain only seems to getting worse as he contorts his face in agony. Soon enough, he hits the floor with a thud as he blacks out from the pain. An unspecific amount of time passes before he awakens and finds himself propped up against his bed with Madotsuki sitting by him, with a look of concern.

"Sensei? Are you okay?" She asks with her eyebrow raised.

"When I closed the door, I felt the worst headache in my life just happen. It was like someone stuck something into the back of my head." He answers, realizing the pain is now gone.

"It's 6:07am. I don't know if you have enough time to shower and have breakfast." She says.

"I still have time." He says as he gets up and rushes to the bathroom.

Madotsuki walks out of the bedroom and heads toward the kitchen table, where she was about to start on her breakfast cereal before she heard Sensei hit the floor. She sits down in her chair and gets a spoonful of cereal before the phone starts ringing. She looks across the table at the caller ID and lets out a sigh. She walks to the phone and picks it up.

"Hello?" She asks.

"Hey, is Sensei there?" Monoe asks in an ill tone.

"He's busy in the bathroom." Madotsuki replies, looking at her cereal bowl on the kitchen table.

"Can you tell him that I'm not going to be at school today? I have a nasty virus that is going to make learning ten times harder than it needs to be." Monoe asks before she starts coughing.

"Will do." Madotsuki says, with her finger on the End Talk button.

"Okay, thank you." Monoe says in the most cheerful tone she could muster.

"Bye." Madotsuki says as she presses the button and hangs up the phone.

She walks back to the kitchen table and resumes eating her cereal. The taste of the cereal's sugary coating is starting to become less noticeable each spoonful she eats. When she finishes her cereal and decides to put the bowl into the sink, she sees Masada walking from the hallway toward her in his teaching clothes. His eyes are extremely bloodshot and, by the look of his somber facial expression, he looks as though he is going to have a very bad day, despite not even leaving the apartment yet.

"I'll just grab a bagel." He says as he walks into the kitchen and towards the counter. Masada grabs the bagel bag and opens it up neatly, then takes out a bagel and closes it gracefully. Madotsuki notices Masada struggling to stay awake as he tries to eat the bagel.

"Sensei, are you feeling alright?" She asks before his eyes meet hers.

"I'm okay, really." He says, not wanting to continue dialogue.

"By the way, Monoe called while you were in the shower. She said she wasn't going to school today because she has a virus." She continues. He lets out a sigh as he looks at Madotsuki.

"If you're done with breakfast, put your bowl in the sink and get your bathroom business done with before we go." He says, trying to retain a pleasant tone.

She only nods as she hurries to the sink and places the bowl inside. He closes his eyes and tries to relax a little while she runs to the bathroom. His eyes feel like they're burning as he keeps them closed, but opening them up again will not be any more pleasant. He opens his eyes painfully and looks at the clock. Madotsuki emerges from the hallway with her backpack and sees a panicked look on Masada's face.

"It's 6:42am! We have to leave now!" He says as he grabs his briefcase and walks to the apartment door with Madotsuki following nearby. The two quickly lock the door and walk through the hallway. As they make a turn and go out the building door, Masada hears thunder and feels light rain occasionally touch his head. Nevertheless, they still run to the car parked nearby and, the instant he unlocks the car doors, they both get in.

"Alright, now that we got that out of the way…" He says as he attempts to start the engine, but it doesn't seem to be activating. He tries several additional attempts before it finally starts up. He slowly backs up from his place and, after a moment, exits the parking lot slowly. While he gets onto the road, the rain comes crashing down suddenly. The hypnotic sounds that the rain makes as it collides against the dashboard begin to severely lull Madotsuki.

Predictably, she falls asleep and whisks away to the dream world. However, her eyes do not open. Instead, she hears a conversation playing out.

"Sir, we're picking up vital signs! She survived the collision!" A man says.

"Excellent! Release her from stasis!" A different man says as the sound of keyboards clacking can be heard.

She hears water being drained and suddenly feels a lot heavier than she previously was. Her eyes open to find herself in a circular chamber, resting on the ground without any clothes except for a one piece swimsuit with little body sensors covering where her nipples would be. The chamber door opens and she struggles to rise from the ground. She slowly walks out of the chamber and takes a few steps, only to lose her balance and fall over. Luckily, she was caught by a nearby person in a hazmat suit. She nods at him to show appreciation and gets back onto her feet.

"Where am I? What's going on?" Madotsuki asks as she looks around to look at the various pieces of futuristic equipment and scientific tools.

"You're a survivor of the ship crash that happened here a few hours ago! It's a shame that your friend on the ship didn't survive, though." A man in with a captain's hat says. "By the way, I'm Captain Alexander."

"Sensei didn't live?" She asks in a scared tone.

"Yeah, it's a shame. We tried everything we could to jump start him like we did with you, but it was all fruitless. He's currently in the stasis chamber to your left." Captain Alexander says as he points to Masada's chamber.

Madotsuki slowly walks to the chamber and starts tearing up. The monitors beside the chamber read that his heart rate has stopped completely. Suddenly, loud noises are heard from above and the nearby scientists and people in hazmat suits look around with anxious curiosity. Captain Alexander pulls out a pocket radio and holds down the button.

"Men, what's going on up there?" He asks. The radio stays silent for only a brief moment before the sounds of bullets are heard over the radio, followed by the sounds of flesh and sinew being torn along with painful screams.

"Men, I repeat, what's going on up there?" He asks again. This time, there was nothing but static. Captain Alexander looks around the room nervously as he sees his men are also getting uncomfortable. Loud banging noises are now being heard outside of the nearby door to their right. The suited men equip their weapons and aim at the door.

"Okay, when I give the signal, open fire on whatever is going to come out through the main doors!" Captain Alexander says as he equips a machine pistol.

"3…" He says. The banging noises become louder.

"2…" He says. The banging noises stop completely.

"1…" He says. The doors fly off the hinges, Revealing Uboa's humanoid form with claws in place for fingers.

"Open fire, men! Unleash hell on this thing!" He yells as loud as he can. The sounds of gunfire fill the room, along with the tinkling of bullet casings as they hit the floor. Uboa only laughs softly as he walks through the gun fire taking extremely minimal damage at most. He charges at the men, instantly decapitating three of them with a cleaving strike.

Madotsuki could only watch in horror as the men were getting mowed down, one by one, while Uboa didn't even feel a drop of pain. Captain Alexander hears his weapon clicking from the lack of ammo and starts to slowly walk backwards, only to be gored in the face with Uboa's left claw. Madotsuki quickly decides to hide behind some of the equipment while the men that remained were getting effortlessly slaughtered.

"Where are you, Kiddo?" Uboa says in a deep voice. "I only want to play with you!" She continues to hide behind a big seven foot tall computer as he continues to search the room. She starts hearing him slash at equipment nearby, creating fires in an attempt to draw her out. She looks around from her hiding place and sees a remote on the ground labeled, "Self destruction"

"I'm done fooling around here!" He says, just before hearing a beep from the remote in Madotsuki's hand. She only realizes what she had done after the button beep and tries to pinch herself awake, only to be sorely shocked when she sees that Uboa's claw nearly hit her when he sliced vertically through the computer. He slashes horizontally at her through the computer, but narrowly misses her by an inch.

"The self destruction sequence will begin in T-minus 10… 9… 8…" The nearby console speakers say while enduring through the fire that Uboa caused.

"7… 6… 5…" It continues as he snatches Madotsuki from behind computer.

"4… 3… 2…" It continues as he prepares to slash her, only for her to pinch before he was ready.

"1…" The speakers say, just as Uboa realizes that his target escaped him again.

All the equipment starts detonating, annihilating anything that didn't already die or escape. Uboa yells in anger as the area starts to cave in at some parts while only barely remaining intact at most. She awakens to find that they have pulled into the teacher's parking lot and the rain is still going on. Masada slowly pulls into his parking spot and turns off the engine.

"Open the glove box." He says to Madotsuki. She opens the box to find an umbrella. "Give it to me so we can walk into the school together and not get completely soaked."

She nods as she hands it to him and watches him get out of the vehicle so he can activate his umbrella. After working at it for a minute, he opens it up and walks to Madotsuki's side of the car. She opens the door and hops out, leaving Masada to position the umbrella over himself along with her. The two walk into the building after locking the car doors and undo the umbrella as they get into the school.

She follows Masada to his classroom as they quickly walk along. When he unlocks his door and turns on the light, he sees the clock read "7:13am" He puts his briefcase onto the table and sets himself into the chair before letting out a sigh.


	15. Chapter 14: Uneasy Foreshadowing

Chapter 14: Uneasy Foreshadowing

The sky is still heavily cloudy, but the rain has stopped a few hours ago as the weather calmed down significantly. Monoe, sitting in discomfort at her kitchen table, looks at the nearby clock. The big hand lays between the four and the five while the small hand rests over the three. She lets out a disease ridden cough as she gets up and walks to the fridge. Inside she takes her Tokuto cup along with the orange juice.

"Dad, it's interesting how you got a day off of work." She says as she pours some orange juice into the cup.

"I think the boss is trying to get me to stay quiet about his 'encounter' with the secretary I witnessed. It seems he is lucky that I can keep my mouth shut with some 'incentive'." Her father says as he sits on the couch, drinking a glass of water.

"Do you think his wife is going to know about this, even if you don't tell her?" She asks, grinning wryly.

"Even if nobody tells her anything, she'll know about it. I know for a fact that the boss has a very terrible poker face." He says, laughing heartily as he grabs the remote off the coffee table and turns on the television.

As she puts the juice back into the fridge and walks to the kitchen table, knocking noises from the apartment door are heard. Her father rises from the couch and walks to the door. He looks into the viewing glass on the door and, after seeing Poniko on the other side with a binder in her left arm, opens it.

"Hello, Mr. Tanaka. Is Monoe here? I have her homework assignments with me." Poniko greets politely.

"She is in the kitchen. Come in." He says, gently pointing into the living room.

She nods as she passes him. Poniko knows that Monoe's father, despite being a mean drunk and once having a huge alcohol addiction only three years ago, is a very pleasant person to talk with. She sees Monoe at the table with her glass of orange juice and waves at her.

"Hey Monoe. I got your homework just like you told me to." Poniko says, putting the binder on the table and opening it up.

"Nice to see that you were listening to me when I called you. I thought you were falling asleep when I was talking." Monoe replies, sipping her drink while Poniko takes out a piece of paper from the binder and places it next to Monoe.

"By the way, how was your day? I take it you were able to play a lot of quake with people online, right?" Poniko asks smugly.

"It was absolutely horrible. I was puking up bits of my dinner from last night when I woke up at five in the morning. My afternoon so far is consisting of burning eyes, sore limbs, painful breathing and explosive diarrhea. I can only imagine that my evening will consist of me losing my mind when trying to work on homework." Monoe says in a sour tone.

Poniko stays quiet as Monoe resuming sipping her drink. Her eyes are very bloodshot, her cheeks are red, her breath smelled atrocious, and her hair was ruffled a lot more than usual. It only seemed that Monoe was only going to feel worse if Poniko continued to talk.

"I think I'll go now, Monoe. Try to keep a good mood." Poniko says as she closes her binder and walks away from the table with it. Monoe grumbles as she looks over her homework. While she hears the sound of the apartment door opening and closing, Monoko walks into the kitchen and sees her sister.

"How are you feeling, Monoe?" Monoko asks with curiosity.

"Like the time you got pneumonia." Monoe responds.

"Oh… okay." Monoko says as she walks into the kitchen and opens the freezer. Monoe gets up from the table after drinking the last of her juice and also walks into the kitchen. She starts the sink up and squeezes some soap into the cup. A little time passes as she cleans the cup of any juice that remained. As she puts the cup into the cupboard, she feels something building up in her lungs. She closes the door and coughs.

Over two hours pass before a small white car pulls into the parking lot and enters a spot near the building door. Masada turns off the engine and lets out a sigh. He and Madotsuki both exit the car with their items in silence and lock the doors. Although she wasn't going to ask him about his temper, she was getting rather nervous from Masada's attitude. His eyes only look more strained and drier than ever as the two walk into the building and take a right into the hallway. They pass Monoe's door, and also the door 102, as they head closer to Masada's apartment. He takes out his keys and starts unlocking the door.

"Sensei, what are we going to have for dinner?" She asks, afraid that he might backhand her.

"I'm not in the mood to cook up anything; we're going to eat out." He responds in an impatient tone as he removes the key from the knob and opens the door.

Madotsuki follows him as they walk into the apartment, eager to change into her afternoon clothes. Masada walks into the bedroom and closes the door, leaving Madotsuki out in the apartment hallway.

"I'll be done soon. You can change after I'm done." He says on the other side of the door. She sighs and walks back to the living room, where she sits in her usual chair. Closing her eyes to relax, she slowly dozes off and starts whisking away to the dream world. Unexpectedly, she finds herself in the nexus area. Before she takes a step anywhere, she hears someone behind her let out a sigh.

"I'm not going to lie, you're messing with things you aught not to know of." A voice calls to Madotsuki, causing her to turn around to see the gray suited man.

"Why are you stalking me?" She asks in a disturbed tone.

"Because I'm always curious of what my favorite little girl is up to." He replies in a smug tone.

"Leave me alone! I can investigate whatever I like, however I like, and whenever I like!" She yells at him, making him raise an eye brow.

"Trust me, you'll regret going into room 102. I guarantee it." He says as he fades away from her sight.

She shudders from the very brief encounter with him as she walks toward black and purple door to the south. She opens it and finds herself in a strange world with hordes of very colorful markings on the ground that go as far as her eyes can let her. Before she takes another step, she digs through her pocket and pulls out the capsule her bike turned into. When she presses the button and throws it against the ground, a loud pop sound is heard and her bike appears, emerging from the smoke. She gets on the bike and starts riding quickly through the area, going by all the markings on the floor.

Only after a few moments of joy riding, she encounters an elevator door placed seemingly at random. Although the doors look familiar to her, she shrugs her shoulders and presses the bike's blue button after getting off. The bike pops and turns into a capsule again. She picks it up and presses the elevator button, only for the doors to immediately open. She steps inside and presses the down arrow button on a panel near the door. As the doors close and the elevator music starts playing, she looks around to find a coin on the ground that reads, "She may have fallen, but another will take her place."

Madotsuki looks at the coin strangely and notices the doors open quickly to reveal the department store she once explored. She walks out and looks to her left to see a girl walking through the area with two brown twin tails. She rides the escalator downward and approaches the girl.

"Hello." Madotsuki greets in a warm tone, only to see the girl's head bounce up and down as the girl starts walking away. Madotsuki takes out her knife and starts following her.

"Don't ignore me!" She says in a bitter tone, yet the girl continues walking away from her. She sighs as she finally closes in on the girl and stabs her in the back of the head. The girl's movement ceases completely as Madotsuki removes the knife and wipes it clean with part of the girl's shirt. She looks around carefully to make sure that nobody saw her just murder someone and starts walking away from the scene after putting her knife back in her pocket.

She soon sees the E man place and, either out of morbid curiosity or forgetfulness, enters it to find the E man is still here along with a much more cheery toriningen. The E man looks at her and smiles softly while the toriningen laughs slightly in a disturbed tone. Madotsuki slowly steps backwards and starts running away from the area, only to bump into Masada again. Her eyes light up as she sees him in a much more cheery mood, although she is still weirded out by the goofy eyes that point in opposite directions. He starts at her with a curious look as she smiles.

"Sensei, I didn't know you would sometimes hang around down here!" She says. Suddenly, the world around her fades entirely as she feels someone gently shaking her shoulder. She slowly awakens to find Masada standing around her, with a slightly more peaceful look on his face.

"You can change now. Also, where do you want to eat out?" He asks.

"It doesn't have to be anything special, Sensei." She replies as she rubs her eyes.

Madotsuki gets out of the chair and looks at the clock. Her eyes widen as she starts running to the bedroom and closes the door. Masada stands by confused as he looks at the clock and sees it read 6:28pm. A minute later, Madotsuki runs out of the bedroom in her afternoon clothes and out of the apartment door. She continues running down the hallway until she reaches room 102.

She touches the knob and feels a slight breeze against her face as she opens the door. Inside she finds a dirty apartment that looks as though it wasn't cleaned up for a very long time. Most of the wall paper was peeled off and several holes in the walls were quite noticeable. The carpet was very dusty and even had a few bugs crawling along. She walks into a nearby bedroom to find a horrifying sight: A dead blond haired girl lying on the floor, with a very gory wound in the chest that seemed to be from being stabbed with a big sword. A really horrifying thought came into her head when she examined the body closely: Short blond hair, a plaid like over shirt with a dark undershirt, a grayish blue skirt, and a wallet next to her right hand.

She looked into the wallet and read in pure shock, "Urotsuki Kokawa, born December 9th 2009…" She threw the wallet onto the ground, unable to comprehend what she just discovered. Everything she read from the diary; saw from the pictures and witnessed from the dream world portal was all starting to come into place: Urotsuki was a time traveler that was good friends with Masada before she left to possibly visit the future to save someone's life, only to be met with the cruel fate of being killed. Madotsuki sighs from the sight of such a mysterious person having been cut down and begins walking out of the room and toward the living room to find a coin on the coffee table. She picks up the same coin and realizes that it was the coin from her recent dream.

"She may have fallen, but another will take her place…" She reads from the coin. "What does that last part mean? Who will take her place?" She asks herself as she puts the coin into her pocket and walks into the kitchen. The counters were completely devoid of anything aside from journal like books that dated 2009 to 2026. Feeling as though the books will not contain anything helpful, she exits the kitchen and, as she gets in sight of the door, sees a shadowy figure staring at her from the end of the living room. After a moment of looking at him, she comes to the conclusion that the gray suited man from her dreams is not just a figment of her imagination.

"You don't listen too well, do you?" It says before it vanishes into thin air. Madotsuki, almost hysterical, bolts for the door and quickly opens it before closing it after exiting. She breathes heavily as Masada turns around to find her outside of room 102.

"What was that about?" He asks in a stern tone.

"Sensei, you wouldn't believe what I found inside of there!" She says, still breathing heavily. She tries to open the door again, but the door appears to have locked.

"Madotsuki, I don't know what you were doing in there, but you're going to be in big trouble if you run off like that again!" He says. She gulps, knowing that Sensei now has a reason to be unhappy with her. Although she didn't take anything with her that proves Urotsuki is dead, she knows that what she saw will change her life forever. She may not know what to do regarding the discovery, but she knows that denying that it happened will only harm her. She takes the coin from her pocket and looks into it again, still pondering who is next to 'take her place'.


	16. Chapter 15: What evidence?

Chapter 15: What evidence?

As Madotsuki and Masada walk toward their apartment door, they hear Monoe's apartment door open. Masada turns around to see Mr. Tanaka approaching them with a look of joy.

"Komuro, it's been a few good months since we last talked." He says.

"Ken, that's the first time in weeks I've actually heard my real first name used instead of the running gag that almost everyone is familiar with. " Masada replies with an estranged look.

"Let the people have their fun. Also, how has Madotsuki been doing? I assume she is doing wonderfully." he asks.

"She has been doing okay. Is there any special reason why you stopped me in the hallway when we were about to head out for dinner?" Masada asks.

"A thought crawled into my mind: Perhaps you two would like to join Monoko and I for dinner?" he asks. "We could very well catch up on old times and Madotsuki could also play around with Monoko."

"Madotsuki, would you want to eat out with-" Masada attempts to ask before he hears an exited "Yes!" from Madotsuki. Monoko pops out from the open apartment door and gleefully runs to Madotsuki, hugging her on collision. Masada gently smiles from the sight of the two as he locks his apartment door. He begins following Mr. Tanaka as he locks his apartment door.

"What about Monoe? Is she going to be alright being alone at home?" Masada asks.

"She has Poniko to provide company. Though, truth be told, Poniko must really like Monoe a lot to agree to stay with her instead of eating out with us, not counting the fact that Monoe has been very sick and irritable recently." Mr. Tanaka says as he walks down the hallway, soon making a left turn for the building exit. Monoko looks over to Madotsuki and sees her with a very concerned look on her face.

"What's wrong, Mado?" Monoko asks as they follow the two adults, yet Madotsuki continues to stay quiet.

"Mado, please answer." Monoko says in a worried tone, but Madotsuki refuses to speak. She sighs as they exit the building and walk toward Mr. Tanaka's car up ahead. He gets into the driver's seat while Masada enters from the passenger's side and the girls sit in the back. He starts up the engine and soon backs up. As they exit the parking lot and head onto the road, Monoko looks to Masada with a curious look.

"Mado isn't talking to me. Did something horrible happen?" She asks.

"She's been acting pretty weird. Maybe something happened in her dreams?" Masada replies as he looks out the window to his right, occasionally gluing his eyes to various buildings they pass. Madotsuki gently closes her eyes and lets the sound of the car's engine lull her. She begins whisking away to the dream world and soon materializes in her dream bedroom.

While the room's usual contents certainly haven't changed, the room has a pronounced chill in the air. She walks to the door knob and feels there might be someone watching her. Nevertheless, she opens the door and walks out without hesitation into the nexus, pondering where she would like to go next. She takes a stroll through the light blue door to the right and looks around to see all the blocky figures nearby, made with the same light blue, green or red colors. She takes a few steps to the south and touches one of the blocky figures, feeling the smooth-as-glass hard rubber texture of the material the model was constructed with.

Her interest in the figure wanes as she walks a bit to the right, only to feel something tap her shoulder. She turns around to see a floating hot and scarf. Although the least of her worries in the dream world, the sight was still very odd in Madotsuki's eyes. She takes her hand out and reaches toward the 'space' holding up the hat and scarf, only to feel someone there. The sound of a trinket falling to the ground is heard as Madotsuki turns around to see the same stop light shaped flash light from a while ago. She picks it up and, after hatching a rather seemingly random idea, turns it on next to the hat and scarf to see another girl her age underneath the clothing.

"Well, you found the only way to uncloak me." The girl with the hat says in a very bored tone.

"Who are you?" Madotsuki asks with her eyebrow raised.

"Mafurako, though you can just call me the hat and scarf girl if you would like." Mafurako explains. Madotsuki views Mafurako's body with a curious look.

"Why were you invisible?" She asks.

"That's something not even I know, but the trinket that you're holding onto can either turn the invisibility on or off." Mafurako replies, leaning against the blocky figure. "Lovely how I don't know why it's that way. Though, I can't help but wonder…"

"Wonder about what?" Madotsuki asks, becoming curious of the individual.

"Is Kamakurako, my little sister, still waiting for me like a complete fool back in the snow world? She should know that I'm not coming back to her ever again. The toriningen have stirred enough trouble for me over there to ensure that she'll be alone unless she wakes up and decides to finally join up with me here." Mafurako explains in a disappointed tone.

"Last time I think I saw her, she was sleeping in an igloo." Madotsuki responds, causing Mafurako to sigh.

"Why am I not surprised?" She rhetorically asks. "She never stops sleeping for anything except food. I'm surprised the toriningen didn't lynch her by now."

"Shouldn't you go back anyways and help her incase if she were in danger?" Madotsuki asks, furrowing her brow.

"Why bother? Nowadays, unless the toriningen are horribly overpowered, they don't relent in their attacks. She's a goner." Mafurako says. Madotsuki balls her fist and decks Mafurako in the cheek, sending her straight towards the ground. She slowly gets up while looking at Madotsuki to see her furious facial expression.

"How could you be so self centered?" Madotsuki yells.

"You can talk about how much of a dick I am all night long; it's up to her now." Mafurako says, rubbing her face to ease her facial wound while Madotsuki still fumes.

"So that's it? You're just going to abandon her?" Madotsuki asks.

"Okay, you win! I'll go check up on her and try to get her over here safely!" Mafurako replies in an impatient tone. As Madotsuki feels a bit more pleased with getting Mafurako to help her sister out, she feels herself suddenly fading from the dream world. She opens her eyes to find that the car has stopped in a parking lot.

"We're here, everyone." Mr. Tanaka speaks as Masada and Monoko exit the vehicle. Madotsuki opens her door and exits while rubbing her eyes. She walks around the backside vehicle to meet up with Monoko and Masada. Monoko, still wearing her school outfit, stares off into the distance while Masada, wearing his black long sleeve shirt and pants, waits for Mr. Tanaka to get out of the car. Mr. Tanaka opens his door and hops out.

"Now, let's get a move on before it gets darker." He says, closing his car door, and walks toward the restaurant.

Elsewhere, Monoe curls up on her couch and groans in pain. The feeling of her burning eyes only seems to be getting worse along with her sore limbs. She closes her eyes and rests her head on a nearby arm of the couch as Poniko walks out of the kitchen with a bowl of ramen and chop sticks in her hands.

"Monoe, it's time for dinner." Poniko says as she puts the items on the coffee table.

"Poniko, I'm not hungry right now… I just want some sleep." Monoe responds in a weak tone.

"Bullshit, eat up." Poniko continues while attempting to sit on the couch and taking the remote from the coffee table.

"At least you were nice enough to make something for me…" Monoe says as she slowly sits up straight and picks up the ramen bowl. She takes up the chop sticks and tries out the noodles. Though a bit softer than she would like them, they were still very satisfying after not eating too much during the day. She continues to slurp down the noodles as Poniko sits on the couch, watching television.

"Starting to feel a little better, Monoe?" Poniko asks in a caring tone.

"Thanks for the noodles, Poniko. You're not usually this helpful." Monoe says, surprised by Poniko.

"You got me out of a lot of trouble during Friday, it's the least I could do." Poniko replies. Monoe finishes her noodles and attempts to get off the couch, only for Poniko to quickly rise instead and take the bowl.

"I'll take it to the sink. You just enjoy yourself." She says as she moves to the kitchen. Monoe just shrugs her shoulders and curls up on the couch. The thought of Poniko helping her out for the night was enough to offset some of the sickness she had, though she wonders how much longer until she starts improving. Suddenly, her stomach rumbles and she quickly gets up from the couch. Poniko pokes her head out from the kitchen to see Monoe rush to the bathroom.

"I don't know whether to take that as a sign of her recovery or a sign of an upset stomach." She thinks to herself as she walks back into the kitchen and opens the fridge. Inside, she finds a jug of cranberry juice and some milk. Shuddering in disgust from the cranberry juice, she closes the fridge door and stands around for a bit. Upon looking at the ground for a moment, she sees a pink note. She reads from it after picking it up, "Get out while you still can." Monoe exits the bathroom and walks into the kitchen to see Poniko standing by with a worried expression.

"Are you okay, Poniko?" Monoe asks as she sees her with the note.

"This note says we should get out while we-!" Poniko replies until she was interrupted by the building's fire alarm.

"No time right now! You can tell me after we get out of the building!" Monoe says as the two rush out of the apartment and down the building's hallway, only to see smoke coming from door 102. The air, filled with smoke and the cries of various apartment dwellers, becomes hard to see through as people are being guided out by firemen. As they exit the building and join with everyone else outside, Monoe looks back at Poniko with a look of curiosity.

"So, what about the note you were talking to me about?" Monoe asks.

"I don't think it's relevant anymore." Poniko says as she stuffs the note into her pocket and watches the last of the firemen squadron go into the building. After several minutes, it seems that the smoke is starting to cut down significantly.

"What do you think started the fire?" Poniko asks.

"Judging by how terrible the wiring in this place generally is, I'd say a bad plug that went out in a blaze of glory." Monoe says as she turns around to see an ambulance appear. The ambulance parks nearby and immediately three people jump out of the back of the van with a stretcher. More time passes after the men enter the building, only to come out with a badly charred body with an open chest that seems to be missing some organs. The body, with the blonde short hair, suddenly reminds Monoe of the picture Masada had of Urotsuki.

"Poniko, do you think that is really Urotsuki?" Monoe asks worriedly.

"Monoe, that picture was taken over ten years ago. She'd look much older if that were the case." Poniko says, unconvinced by the body.

"Still, Masada, Madotsuki, and the family are not going to be happy when they come home." Monoe says.

Meanwhile after half an hour, Mr. Tanaka and the others exit the restaurant with happy faces. Monoko lets out a belch before she excuses herself. Masada, drunk from the alcohol he consumed, tries his hardest to maintain a somewhat dignified look. Madotsuki happily walks with Masada as they all approach the car.

"The food was good. Plus, I finally got you to drink some beer, Komuro. It makes me wonder why you don't drink more in your life." Mr. Tanaka says with a laugh. Masada doesn't pay attention as he opens his door and hops in, with the taste of skewered grilled chicken still in his mouth.

"The korokke pan was amazing! I wonder where they get their bread from." Monoko ponders happily as the two girls get into their seats. Madotsuki puts on her seat belt and closes her eyes, feeling sleepy from the food she ate. Without any delay, she whisks to the snow portion of the dream world, only to be greeted with the sight of Mafurako crouching behind a tree.

"Keep quiet, the toriningen know I'm around here!" She whispers harshly.

"Why do they hate you?" Madotsuki asks quietly.

"I just assume they just don't like other people." She replies. She slowly crawls out from behind the tree and starts moving forward. The two continue onward until they see an igloo. Mafurako crawls into the igloo and sees her sister, Kamakurako, still sleeping peacefully.

"Wake up, sis." Mafurako says to her, but she doesn't get a reply.

"Sis, I'm talking to you! Wake up!" She continues in a harsher tone, yet still no reply. Mafurako takes out a firecracker from her pocket and holds onto it.

"It's a risk I'm willing to take. Cover your ears." She says as she also takes out a lighter from her pocket. Madotsuki covers her ears as along with Mafurako after she lights the strangely longer than average fuse. The loud noise, although very damaging to the hearing of both girls, somehow fails to wake up Kamakurako. Mafurako sighs as she looks to Madotsuki.

"How else can we get her up?" Madotsuki asks.

"If that didn't work and the toriningen are hunting for me, I'd say we are no longer going to be sitting pretty." Mafurako says as Madotsuki equips her knife. Without warning, voices are heard from outside the igloo.

"I thought I heard something over here, Marina! Honestly!" A toriningen speaks.

"Okay then, Jill. Go in and search the igloo!" Marina shouts. Madotsuki holds the knife, ready to stab whatever is going to crawl in. A moment passes before Jill's head pokes in and sees Madotsuki pointing the knife at her while making a silencing motion with her other hand.

"Nothing is there, Marina!" Jill reports after crawling out of the igloo. Marina sighs as the two walk away, keeping Mafurako's presence hidden from Marina. Madotsuki sheathes her blade and sees an impressed Mafurako smile.

"Nice job there." She says in a pleased tone. "Now if only I can wake up my sister…"

"I guess you were right all along… it's all up to her." Madotsuki says, sad from the prospect that Kamakurako isn't going to wake up anytime soon and that she wasted Mafurako's time. However, she smiles from the sight of the two sisters together. She hugs Mafurako goodbye and crawls out of the igloo, only to see a large hole in the ground to her left. The hole seems to have red glowing veins on the sides and the sounds of a man yelling and moaning in pain can be heard. She looks inside the hole, but cannot see anything after several hundred feet.

"Surprise!" A voice calls out to her, causing her to fall into the hole. Her falling speed seems to only get faster by the second as she wonders how deep the hole must be. After a moment as she looks downward, a red glow at the bottom seems to be getting bigger and brighter as she continues falling. The sound of a woman screaming is faintly hearable and slowly gets louder. Her thoughts are racing almost as fast as she is falling. The red glow at the bottom only seems to be getting even bigger and brighter, as though she is falling into a red hellish world. She briefly sees some ground before she jolts awake in shock.

"Mado, are you okay?" Monoko asks as Madotsuki retains a scared look.

"Yeah, it's just a bad dream." She replies as they seem to be entering the apartment parking lot. The sight of police cars catches the eyes of Mr. Tanaka as he pulls into his spot. He turns the engine off and everyone gets out of the car. They toward the building and open the door to find police officers around room 102. They pass the room to find Monoe and Poniko in the hallway.

"Monoe! Poniko! What happened while we were gone?" Mr. Tanaka asks with grave concern.

"Apparently, a big fire broke out in room 102. While the firemen were cleaning out the area, they stumbled upon a dead body and called up the police to investigate the area after they were done." Monoe answers.

"Monoe said that the body looked kind of like Urotsuki from the picture in Masada's apartment." Poniko chimes in.

Madotsuki looks horrified after hearing Monoe speak. She goes through her thoughts and remembers Urotsuki's body having a wallet nearby, seeing a gas container in the room, and the books on the kitchen counter. A thought clicks into her mind: The grey suited man killed her and decided to burn the body along with the books so any evidence that she existed will be gone forever. Because her wallet was also burnt to a crisp, the police will not even be able to know her name.

"It was fun, Ken; but we better get going. School is tomorrow and we don't want to feel too horrible in the morning." Masada says. He and Mr. Tanaka share a laugh as they part ways. Madotsuki follows Masada back to his apartment and watches him unlock his door. The two enter the apartment and, after locking the door, sit in the living room chairs.

"Are you going to bathe first, Madotsuki?" Masada asks. She nods and walks to the bedroom. He just sits in the chair, enjoying the ambience. He sighs and relaxes as he closes his eyes and starts falling asleep, dreaming of his days with Urotsuki.


	17. Chapter 16: Night Trap

Chapter 16: Night Trap

Madotsuki exits the bathroom, dressed in her pajamas, with a still worried expression. She climbs up the side of the bed and rests her head on a nearby pillow. Her head is feeling very heavy as she looks into the nearby clock that reads 8:29pm.

"Sensei, it's your turn!" She shouts. He walks into the room with his boxers and bathrobe in his hands.

"Okay." He replies quickly as he walks into the bathroom. When he closes the door and locks it, she turns off the lamp next to the bed and pulls the covers over herself. Although she isn't whisking away to the dream world, she still feels extremely comfortable as she closes her eyes and breathes deeply. Her stay at Masada's place is, so far, going very well. Although she misses going to bed at 9:30pm and bathing when she pleases; it wasn't bad when she doesn't have to listen her to mother rant about politics during dinner, her father not swatting the wasps that would hang around the apartment balcony and hearing the guy next door talking on his home phone loudly at least once a week, usually on Thursday nights.

Though, her own home had all the snacks and treats she loves, all of her reading material and the famicom with the NASU cartridge. Her desire to play NASU suddenly returns, but she knows that Masada doesn't have a key to her apartment and either Monoe or Poniko could get arrested for breaking and entering, should she ask of their lock picking skills. The room's temperature, currently set to 18.3° C, seems to cool her off significantly along with the ceiling fan working its magic. She finally feels the whisking coming on and ends up near a house, surrounded by trees.

Although afraid that the gray suited man might be inside the house again, she equips her knife and trudges toward the building with a scowl. She opens the door to find nobody in plain sight, but a staircase is visible to her right. She approaches it and climbs down the stairs, only to see a split in her path by the sight of two doors. She goes through the right door and continues walking onward, seeing various creatures along the way such as featureless beings with only one eye, gooey piles of white substance she doesn't quite care enough to determine what exactly it is, and even mobilized blue mushrooms.

After a long enough trek, she opens the door at the bottom of the stairway to see a surprise: Her own math teacher, Sensei Oni, with red skin and purple hair. He turns around quickly and glares at her.

"How the hell did you get down here?" He asks, astonished by her presence.

"I followed some staircases downward." She answers bluntly.

"…whatever, want to play a game?" He asks with a grin "It'll only be a game of hide and seek."

"S-sure, I guess?" She says. Immediately, Oni turns around and covers his eyes.

"One…" He says, just as the lights go out. Madotsuki, although barely able to remember anything about the room, tries to stumble around in the dark, but feels something grip her ankle and raise her upside down. Her knife falls from her pocket and onto the floor before she could catch it. The lights come back on and reveal her to be stuck in a rope trap while Oni holds a pair of iron cuffs.

"Did you really think this through, kiddo?" he asks as he holds her arms still and cuffs her wrists.

"What's going on? Why are you doing this?" She asks in a scared tone, before realizing this could only end horribly for her.

"Let's just say…" He says as he takes the knife from the floor and starts cutting her shirt in half. "…You're a little pastry I can't say no to." He walks behind her after getting done with the front portion of her shirt and starts working on the back side.

"Stop it!" She yells, only to feel the back side of her shirt has also been sliced in half, causing both shirt sleeves to fall down onto her arms as her back and pink bra are now exposed. Oni feels her smooth, featureless back with his hand and then decides to lick her back tenderly as she starts whining in total discomfort. He feels her skirt and raises an eyebrow.

"You got quite a body. Let's see if you live up to my expectations." He says in a sinister tone as he cuts the skirt and rips it off of her, revealing her pink panties. She remains too shocked to speak as he rubs her bottom lovingly. He starts salivating as he slowly raises his knife and looks at her bottom.

"This is the moment I've been waiting for!" He says as he makes a small incision into her panties and quickly rips the hole wider. The elastic band of her underwear finally gives in and rips as well, showing her bottom. She tries to hold back tears as she listens to him cackle. She only closes her eyes, hoping for all this to end soon and to be saved. However, she doesn't realize how helpless she is until Oni starts backing away from her.

"Give me a moment here…" He mutters as he plays with a computer console on the wall.

"W-what are you doing now, you pervert?" She asks, still in complete shock.

"I'm just going to put some icing on the cake." He replies as he presses a button that opens a nearby portion of the wall revealing Masada, bound to a chair with a ball gag in his mouth. "You see, this moment can only be truly complete if your precious sensei watches you get pleasured by a man that isn't a social failure. That's right, I did my homework!"

"BASTARD!" she screams before Oni walks back to her and delivers a hard smack to her face.

"Don't worry; you'll get what's coming to you in a second." He says as he rips her bra off and starts undoing his pants. Masada, after feeling the rope around his hands loosen enough to fall off, cautiously rises from his chair and takes his ball gag off before picking up the chair nearby. Oni starts to fondle Madotsuki's chest as Masada slowly lurches toward Oni with the chair in his hands, breathing heavily with a look of determination.

Before Oni attempts to turn around to see if anything is approaching him, he feels the chair crash against him. Oni falls to the ground, dropping the knife as he attempts to get back up but Masada wraps his hands around Oni's neck. Madotsuki could hear the sounds of bone and sinew crack as Masada's grip only gets tighter. Oni kicks Masada off of him and gasps heavily.

"I didn't think he would break free that soon, but no matter..." He says in a smug tone.

"It's over, Oni! Let me go or he'll make you!" Madotsuki yells while still trying to keep herself from crying. Oni sighs and takes out a colt python from his pocket, only to have his hand gripped by Masada's. The two men wrestle for control of the weapon, occasionally firing off a shot. One of the gunshots hits the rope that is holding Madotsuki in the air, causing her to drop to the ground. She slowly rises and picks up the knife. She holds the knife to Oni's throat and slices it open, spraying blood on Masada.

"No! Damn you all… damn… you… all…." Oni harshly mutters before the blood loss starts kicking in, making him slowly lose conscience. His grip of the weapon lessens and he lets out a final breath. She stabs Oni's head one last time before she breaks down and weeps. Masada breathes a sigh of relief before he takes the gun and puts it into his pocket.

"It's finally over…" She says as she hugs him. Her cheeks are red as she sniffles softly. Although Masada doesn't speak, she knows that he cares deeply for her. She closes her eyes as she lets the tears roll down her cheeks. Masada sees a small box in the corner of the room and gets up to walk towards it. She opens her eyes when he returns with a needle and a huge spool of thread. For the next several minutes, he very crudely reattaches her skirt together along with her underwear and even her shirt.

"Thank you." She says as she kisses him on the cheek, eager to try on her somewhat repaired clothes. Although nowhere near as solid as they once were, they concealed her body effectively enough to ensure that no one will see her private places. He puts the needle and thread back into the box and the two walk out of the room. They continue their way up the stairways and find themselves on the first floor of the house after a little while. They exit the house and find a two seated bike nearby. Madotsuki grins as she looks at Masada, while Masada still stares at the bike, wondering where it came from.

Madotsuki gets on the front seat and Masada gets on the back seat, ready to make the motion while Madotsuki guides where the bike will go. They take off and head into the forest.

"This is so much fun!" She says as the two ride through the forest at high speed, passing by trees along with the occasional stump and some rocks. They travel westward until they slow down when approaching a cliff that overlooks the ocean. The two get off the bike and sit nearby the cliff, watching and hearing the waves crash against the bottom of the tall cliff. She leans on him and closes her eyes while Masada just sits by and continues to look at the waves. The local gulls nearby make their noises as they pass the two. The sun starts to set as she looks up to him, with a happy expression.

"Sensei?" She starts as a gust of wind passes by. "I don't want to wake up. It's all so beautiful." He nods as he turns his attention to her. She begins lying down next to him, still smiling, as he gently feels her soft and smooth hair. The sunny weather, combined with the temperature of 20° C and the occasional breeze, feels extremely pleasant as Masada also lies down, staring at the clouds in the sky. He feels Madotsuki puts her arm over him and snuggle up to him as he continues staring. The sky, as Masada's face slowly begins displaying a look of confusion, seems to be gradually changing from orange to gray despite the sunny weather. Madotsuki quickly sits up in curiosity and also gives off a strange look.

"Why is the sky turning gray?" She asks before hearing the roar of thunder. Suddenly, after a brief moment, rain begins to pour down lightly as the two get up and hop onto their bike seats. They pedal back into the forest while hoping they can get back to the house in time before the rain worsens. Moments later, they reach the house, only to see the gray suited man standing by the door with his trademark cloak and hat. An echoing laughter could be heard as he begins lumbering towards the two.

"What a terrible night to have a thunder storm." He says.

"Get away from us, you sick murderer!" She says in a disgusted tone.

"Murderer?" He asks as he stops in place.

"You know about the body in the room!" She says as he stands still with an eyebrow raised. Masada looks around awkwardly, not knowing what's going on. Meanwhile, the gray suited man lets out a laugh.

"What makes you think I can exist outside your dreams?" He asks, still chuckling to himself.

"I saw you in that room!" She exclaims.

"What makes you think you didn't just hallucinate the whole thing?" He asks.

"Monoe said that they found a toasted body in the room!" She said, making him smirk.

"I'm afraid that is all I'm willing to discuss at the moment." He says as he starts lumbering towards the two again. "Now, it's time to wake up."

Madotsuki and Masada try to ride away from him, but they slip in a watery puddle and fall off the bike. She lands roughly on a rock while Masada brutally hits a tree with his head, knocking him out. The gray suited man continues toward them as she gets up and runs to an unconscious Masada, picking his pocket and taking the revolver from earlier. She aims carefully and barely pulls the trigger, nearly hitting herself with the weapon from the recoil. The gunshot doesn't seem to do anything noticeable as he continues forward, now extending a gray hand towards her. She tries again, this time hitting herself with the barrel, but it was all in vain as he is now only a few feet from her. Soon, the gray hand's cold rotting flesh comes in contact with her, searing her forehead.

She awakens to find the clock read 5:26am. Looking to her right and seeing Masada still snuggled up in his covers; she hops out of bed and grabs her school clothes from one of the suitcases next to the bed. Upon walking into the bathroom and closing the door after turning on the lights, she starts stripping down and enters the shower chamber. She turns the faucet and begins showering. Her thoughts about Urotsuki continue as she reaches for the shampoo and pours out a decent sized blob.

While scrubbing her hair, a thought has come to mind: Today is now Monoe's 16th birthday. Madotsuki can only imagine how happy Monoe would be with a new computer, or maybe some books that cover historical events and major wartime leaders during WW2. Time passes until the water stops and she exits the shower chamber to grab a towel. She dries herself off and puts on her school clothes before walking out of the bathroom to see that Masada has already left the room. After very quickly returning to the bathroom to turn off the light, she walks through the bedroom and enters the hallway. She sees Masada at the kitchen table, eating some recently prepared toast with jam.

Masada, sitting at the kitchen table, takes a bite out of his toast as he turns his head toward Madotsuki. The two smile at each other as she enters the kitchen to get herself a bowl of cereal. As she reaches for the cupboard, the phone rings. She checks the caller ID, only to see complete gibberish.

"Just let the machine get it. If it's someone important, they'll leave a message." Masada says as he is about to sip his coffee. The machine clicks and a beep is heard.

"Komuro, please pick up the phone. That weird guy after me and he won't stop until he-" A feminine voice says in a frightened tone from the speaker until a high pitched tone is heard and interrupts her permanently. His eyes open widely after a few seconds as he soon thinks of who it may be. He gets up from the table and, after shooing away Madotsuki, picks up the phone.

"Hello?" He greets nervously, already feeling extremely uncomfortable. Madotsuki watches him talk on the phone, examining his discomforting facial expressions as seconds pass. He immediately hangs up and heads back to the table with a very sober look.

"Who was it?" Madotsuki asks, worried that she may know the answer.

"All I heard after saying hello was heavy breathing and the sound of walking in the background. I'm starting to think that something very strange is going on here." He says, jittering as he sips his coffee. Madotsuki starts feeling as though her discovery of Urotsuki's journal and photo book was a horrible mistake she made back in august. She hugs Masada and nuzzles against his arm to help calm him down, but it does little to change is mood.

Today, as the two could already tell, is going to have a very interesting series of events. Although school may be monotonous and dull, it will certainly provide a period away from whatever horrors lurk regarding the mysteries of both the gray suited man and Urotsuki. Though, after school when Madotsuki may take a nap, she senses that there may to more to the body than she first thought. Nevertheless, she snaps back to opening the cupboard and grabbing a bowl. Masada still sits by, wondering how Urotsuki may have managed to call him, despite disappearing ten years ago. Madotsuki wonders how she could have called him, despite her death, as she pours some cereal into the bowl.

"If that really was Urotsuki, then how does she sound like only a day or two passed instead of a decade?" Masada asks as Madotsuki walks to the fridge to get some milk. She opens the fridge and grabs the milk before swiftly closing the door. Upon walking to the table with her milk and bowl of cereal, she sees Masada get up and walk to the kitchen with his dishes.

"I'm taking a shower before we leave. We have at least forty five minutes to spare." He says, walking out of the kitchen and towards the bedroom after putting his dishes in the dishwasher. Elsewhere, at a street phone on the side of the road, opposite of the apartment building; a person in a black cloak with a plague doctor mask stands by.

"The endgame will start in several months time. I still got a while to go." She thinks to herself, holding a locket containing a picture of Masada and Urotsuki.


	18. Chapter 17: Day of the Monoe

Chapter 17: Day of the Monoe

3:30pm comes around as Monoko walks out of the school building, relieved that she may now begin the trek home and soon enjoy her videogames. As she walks to the bus stop she regularly uses, she sees Poniko nearby with a box in her hands.

"Hi Poniko, what's in the box?" Monoko asks curiously.

"It's for your sister. A girl's 16th birthday is a pretty big deal, you know." Poniko replies, holding the box and feeling the side of it. Monoko nods as she stands by, waiting for the bus a few moments before turning toward Poniko with something to say.

"I miss Mado a lot. She usually made waiting at the bus stop pretty fun." Monoko says.

"Yeah, Mado was an interesting person alright." Poniko says, rolling her eyes. So far, the only things Poniko has seen her do was sleep on various pieces of furniture and stare awkwardly at people, giving Poniko the impression that Madotsuki was an anti social freak with chronic sleep deprivation.

"Look at this poor fool: She doesn't even have a fucking clue about anything aside from being friends with a walking pillow and some old video games even Monoe barely knows about! At least Monoe is semi-interesting and can help me out with homework…" Poniko thinks to her self as she listens to Monoko hum the Double Dragon theme while bobbing her head left and right constantly. The bus finally arrives, making Poniko silently sigh in relief. After paying up her bus money, she sits at the front of the booth to her left while Monoko sits to the right.

"Though I can't just say Monoe is only semi-interesting, she does have a certain beauty going on with those geeky clothes she wears even on the weekends. The white shirt and black skirt seem to fit her nicely and even her simple black straight hair is adorable. Plus, her skin is extremely soft, despite knowing that she doesn't use anything in the shower aside from her shampoo and a brush." She thinks while unconditionally blushing. Monoko stares at Poniko with an estranged expression.

"Not only beautiful, but also the smartest person I know of in my life as well." Poniko continues to think, before she sees Monoko staring. "What are you staring at?"

"Oh nothing, Poniko." Monoko quickly responds. After twenty five minutes have passed, the bus stops at the apartment building's nearby bus stop. The two girls get off the bus and start walking towards the building.

Meanwhile, at Masada's classroom in the school, Madotsuki puts her binder back into her backpack and closes her eyes. The student chair she sits in wasn't too bad for sleeping in for Madotsuki, but it made her arms sore from how long her head would rest against them. She feels the whisk happen and sees herself in the white desert, near Dave Spector again.

"Why hello there, little girl!" He calls in a friendly tone. She sighs and equips her knife, grinning as she approaches him.

"Oh not this agai-"He says before he feels the knife go through his throat, blocking his airway. She pulls the knife out and lets him fall to the ground, gripping at his throat in agony for a brief moment before he finally passes on. She wipes the blade clean and continues toward Monoe's cave. She enters the cave and looks around fruitlessly to find Monoe.

"Monoe? Are you in here, Monoe?" She yells, only to hear her echo. She turns around and exits the cave, only to see a portal in front of her. Feeling brave and lucky, she runs straight through the portal and spawns outside of the school building. She turns to her left to see Urotsuki look at her wrist watch while standing by, waiting for something to happen. A few seconds pass before Masada walks out of the building along with the other students.

"Komuro, what's up?" She asks, catching him by surprise.

"Oh hi, I'm just going to head home and-" He says before she grabs his arm. Madotsuki looks at the two in curiosity as Urotsuki wraps herself around Masada, making him uncomfortable.

"Are you sure you don't want to hang out at the park, or maybe watch a movie with me?" She asks in a low, soft voice. He looks at her with his cheeks blushing, lightening up a little.

"Oh fine, you win. Want to go to the park?" He asks. She nods as the two start walking down the sidewalk. Madotsuki smiles softly as she sees the two, just before feeling like someone was watching her. She looks around nervously and sees Monoko staring blankly at her, holding a stoplight shaped keychain.

"Hi Mado! Check out this thing I fou-" She says before stopping in speech. She starts to gurgle from the mouth and painfully grow arms out of her elbows, making her scream. Her left eye starts to pulsate quickly and ruptures after a few seconds, dripping gooey juice down her cheek. Her agonizing screams only increase in pitch as a hand grows from her head and a gory hole begins forming on her chest, easily seeable from outside her shirt. Her monstrous form causes Madotsuki to stare in horror.

"Monoko, why is this happening to you?" She asks as her now mutant best friend slowly lumbers towards her. Madotsuki runs down the sidewalk and, while turning her head back to see if Monoko is running after her, bumps into the gray suited man. He looks down at her and equips his sword.

"You shouldn't be here, kiddo." He says, raising his weapon. She dodges the slash and, without a chance to react, feels Monoko's body rub against hers. Her breath, rancid and undesirable as her looks, makes Madotsuki tear up as she licks the side of her face like an ice cream cone. He prepares another slash as she pushes Monoko off of her and equips her knife. With a surprisingly well executed display of quick reflexes and reaction time, she parries the attack. He raises an eyebrow while she feels Monoko start hugging her again.

This time, Monoko bites the back of her shoulder, leaving a bloody wound. Madotsuki groans in pain as she turns around to stab Monoko in the face, only to remember she is extremely tolerant of pain when going around in her monster form. Feeling the situation was beyond hopeless, she finally pinches her cheek with her other hand and jolts awake immediately. She breathes heavily as she looks around the class room, getting Masada's attention.

"Are you okay back there?" He asks, genuinely concerned.

"It's nothing, Sensei." She answers, blushing. He raises an eyebrow while staring at her for a few seconds before returning to his laptop. She gets out of the student chair and walks behind Masada's desk, curious of what he was working on.

"What are you working on, Sensei?" She asks.

"I'm checking my email. It seems that Sensei Maruyama, the history teacher, is in a tight spot after someone started a rumor that he stored child pornography on his computer." Masada says as he continues to check his email. "A shame, since he was as pretty smart guy."

"He was a weirdo, unlike you." She says, smiling. "Also, I think I saw barely clothed girls on Sensei Oni's computer background when I walked by his room before I went to lunch."

"I'm not terribly surprised, given his behavior regarding women in general." He says in a bored tone as he stares into the built-in screen of his laptop. She looks at the computer clock and sees it read 4:58pm. Masada closes his internet browser and clicks the 'turn off computer' button before closing up his laptop.

"It's getting late enough, time to head home." He says, putting his things inside his briefcase. Madotsuki rushes to her chair and grabs her backpack while checking to see if she has everything in place. The two exit the room after turning off the lights and lock the door after closing it. Casually walking through the hallway, Masada sees a 100 yen coin on the ground and looks around to see if anyone else aside from Madotsuki is nearby. He picks up the coin and puts it into his pocket.

They soon walk out of the building and toward the parking lot. Madotsuki sees a pink note on Masada's dashboard.

"Sensei, you got a note by someone." She says as he sees the note and picks it up. He silently reads from the note for a brief moment and then shudders as he puts it into his pocket. He enters the vehicle with Madotsuki, bearing a somber look.

"What was the note about?" She asks, concerned about Masada's sudden look.

"I don't want to talk about it." He says quickly as he starts the engine. After he backs out from the parking spot and soon reaches the parking lot exit, He pulls makes a left turn and pulls into the right lane of the road. Elsewhere, Poniko walks down the 1st floor hallway to Monoe's apartment, eager to see her now 16 year old friend. Carrying with her a box wrapped in red paper, she knocks on the door twice. A moment passes before the door opens, revealing Monoko.

"Hey Monoko, where's your sister at?" Poniko asks. Monoko points to the door of the sisters' bedroom and Poniko walks towards it. She knocks on the door very softly.

"Monoe, Are you okay? May I come in?" She asks, worried that Monoe's condition may have gotten worse since yesterday. Although she waits for a response, she hasn't heard anything aside from the breathing sounds of Monoko. Deciding that being passive is just going to waste time, she slowly opens the door carefully and peaks her head in. She sees Monoe in her bed, eyes closed and still wearing her night clothes. She makes a small whistle sound as she breathes with her nose. Poniko smiles as she rests her hand on Monoe's head and feels her forehead.

"Sweety, it's time to wake up…" She says in a gentle, loving tone as she puts the red box on Monoko's bed. Monoe opens her eyes, still somewhat bloodshot, and stares at Poniko.

"Hi Monoe… happy 16th birthday" Poniko says as she caresses Monoe's forehead.

"Thanks. My limbs don't hurt nearly as much as they previously did, but my stomach still isn't too happy." Monoe responds with a weak voice as she rises from her bed. Poniko hugs her tightly, eyes starting to water.

"I'm just glad to see you recovering day by day…" She happily says. Monoe smiles as Poniko backs from her so she can get out of the bed. Although very modest regarding her night clothes even around Poniko, it didn't bother Monoe too much when getting out of bed wearing only a pink nightgown with some slippers this time around; for disease and illness bode far worse than a single shred of potential shame. She stretches her arms out and walks out of the bedroom with Poniko and Monoko following nearby.

"Mom and dad called earlier, Monoe. They said they were going to be home at around 6:30 to celebrate your birthday." Monoko states as Monoe walks into the kitchen and opens the fridge door.

"That's sweet of them." Monoe says as she takes out the cranberry juice from the fridge and a glass out from the nearby cupboard. She pours some juice into the glass and drinks a mouthful of the juice, feeling a bit more refreshed. Poniko quietly gags from the sight of Monoe drinking the juice.

"I'm surprised you can stomach that stuff even when you weren't sick!" Poniko says.

"I love cranberry juice." She says as she pours some more juice into the cup and puts the cranberry juice back into the fridge before closing the door. "I loved it since I was only three years old when my dad was being careless and let me have some. My mother, assuming that I was going to throw up from the stuff, wanted to slug my father; but it turned out that I loved the stuff and asked my father for more, much to my parents' surprise."

Poniko looks out into the living room, only to see something suddenly move into the hallway before she knew what it was. As she pokes her head into the hallway, she barely catches a glimpse of the apartment door closing. She turns around to see a confused Monoe and a worried Monoko.

"I don't know what just happened, but this is starting to freak me out." Poniko says.

"What's going on with you?" Monoe asks.

"I saw something move into the hallway and, before I got around the corner to look, the apartment door just closed. Something's going on here." Poniko says, nervously.

"I think you're seeing things. You should stop pulling all-nighters." Monoe says. Poniko stammers as she tries to explain what happened in greater detail, but only gibberish could be heard.

"Poniko, I don't think you are going to convince us that you saw something mysterious in the hallway if you spout nothing but nonsense." Monoko says. Poniko stops sputtering gibberish and sighs.

"This is going to suck…" Poniko thinks, looking at the ground with her hands in her pockets.

Twenty minutes pass elsewhere as Masada's car pulls into the parking lot and enters a parking spot. He turns off the engine and exits the vehicle with Madotsuki. As he closes his door, he still continues to think about the note they found on his dashboard and feels just as sober as ever. He walks toward the building with Madotsuki at his side and enters the door. They walk forward and turn right towards the 1st floor apartments, where they find room 116.

Masada approaches his door and feels as though someone is watching them as they attempt to unlock the door. Madotsuki doesn't seem to care too much as she stands against the wall, waiting for Masada to open the door. He puts the key into the hole and turns it, only to feel a massive headache come on. He clutches himself and stops touching the key, but it still continues mercilessly as Madotsuki sees him in pain.

"Sensei, what's wrong?" She asks, shocked from the sudden agony he's experiencing. He soon falls over and blacks out on the hallway floor. She sighs and, after unlocking the door, slowly drags his body into the apartment room. She stops after she reaches the kitchen and props him against the wall.

"Sensei… what am I going to do with you?" She thinks to herself as she walks to the bedroom to change into her average clothes. She walks into the bedroom and closes the door before stripping down. The chilly air of the apartment makes her shudder as she puts on her shirt and skirt. Though, she wonders if Masada is going to be okay. She opens the door to see him not where she left him, but instead in the kitchen; judging by his shadow from the kitchen light. She walks out of the bedroom and towards the kitchen. She sees him wrapping up a box in blue paper and, as a minute passes, tying a bow.

"That settles the present. Now we just have to send it to Monoe." He says as he neatly finishes the bow.

"Are you okay, Sensei?" She asks, still concerned about him falling unconscious in the apartment building hallway.

"For some reason, I'm feeling better than ever. Don't know why exactly, but I would rather not jinx it." He replies positively. Madotsuki doesn't know whether to take the response happily or to believe he has lost it entirely. Either way, Madotsuki joins him as they exit the apartment together and walk toward room 105. She knocks on the door and waits for it to open, but no response. She knocks again, this time causing Monoko to open the door slightly.

"Hi Mado! Hi Sensei Masada!" She says happily as she finishes opening the door completely. "Please, come in! Monoe would be happy to see you two!"

"How has Monoe been doing?" Masada asks.

"She's still pretty sick, but Poniko has been keeping her company through it all. She's a really good friend." Monoko replies. Madotsuki rolls her eyes as the two enter the apartment and walk into the living room to find Monoe wrapped up in a blanket on the couch with Poniko in a nearby chair. Monoe turns her head and smiles from the sight of her visitors.

"Hey guys." She says calmly. "You can put the gift on the kitchen table. We'll be celebrating my birthday after dinner."

"I don't think your present by me is going to be a ten inch vibrator, though, so it looks like you will have to stick with the shampoo bottle for a little while longer" Poniko says, laughing as Monoe throws a pillow at her. "Take it easy there, granny. You might break your hip."

Masada chuckles softly as he walks toward the kitchen. He places the present on the table as Madotsuki pulls his arm, wanting his attention.

"Yes?" He asks as he looks down at her.

"Are we going to show up during her celebration?" She asks.

"Maybe. It depends if her parents don't mind me showing up at the door after dinner or so." He says as they walk out of the kitchen and towards the apartment door.

"Guys, don't leave yet!" Monoe says, stopping the two in their tracks. "Please show up at the celebration after dinner at 7:30 or so. I'll inform mom and dad that you'll show up."

"We'll be here." Madotsuki says as they exit the apartment and walk toward their home door. She opens the door and sprints inside as Masada casually continues his walk. She enters the kitchen and looks into the clock.

"It's 5:56pm, Sensei. What are we going to have for dinner tonight?" She asks as Masada walks into the kitchen. He opens a nearby cupboard and takes out two packs of ramen. He then opens yet another cupboard and takes out a pot. He opens the packs and puts the two ramen bricks inside of the pot.

"We're having noodles tonight." He says bluntly as he takes the pot to the sink and fills it with water. After putting in an appropriate amount of water, he takes the pot and puts it on a burner he sets to high. Madotsuki's stomach growls audibly enough for Masada to hear.

"I'm sure you can wait at least twenty minutes." He remarks as she walks to the living room and sees the stereo set. Feeling dangerously adventurous, she turns the power on and presses the play button. Immediately, Rammstein's 'Heirate Mich' starts playing at a very loud volume. Masada turns around swiftly and rushes to the stereo set.

"What are you doing? Stop playing around with the stereo set! You'll get me evicted from here if you don't!" He explains as he turns the power off.

"Then why do you have all this cool stuff if you don't play it loudly?" She asks.

"Because I occasionally listen to blues out here at a reasonable volume when reading." He answers as he presses the eject button and takes out the Rammstein CD. "I'm not even sure this CD is mine. I think Poniko left it here when she wanted to play with the stereo set."

Madotsuki sighs and walks to her usual chair, bored out of her mind. She sits in it and ponders what to do after eating and before possibly showing up at Monoe's apartment. She closes her eyes and starts to enter a deep sleep. Minutes pass before she whisks away to the dream world and finds herself in the desert region. She looks around to see if any toriningen are nearby, but she doesn't find any in sight. As she walks to the north towards the barracks, she finds it more quiet than usual. She doesn't find any shadowy dwellers nearby nor does she see Monoe, but she feels that someone or something is lurking around nearby.

The chill around the camp causes Madotsuki to shiver as she examines the crudely constructed buildings again and looks at the nearby wooden pole, stuck with a piece of paper this time around. She walks to the pole and examines the paper, curious of its contents.

"Welcome to the Desert Barracks." She reads from the paper before disregarding its existence entirely as she walks westward and examines more things nearby. She continues westward and feels a thought come to mind. She decides to enter one of the buildings nearby and finds an orange-yellow sea horse like creature in the way. She sighs as she turns around and walks out. She feels as though something is now near her and grows paranoid. Although nothing is in plain sight, she cannot shake the feeling at all. Suddenly, she hears footsteps and backs into the building.

"Stop whining, girls. I know I heard footsteps around here!" Marina the toriningen yells nearby, almost on the other side of the building's wall. Madotsuki pokes her head from the doorway and sees a troop of toriningen pass by her, completely oblivious to her presence.

"Holy hell! Boss, come see this!" A toriningen yells. After Madotsuki sees Marina rush by, she walks out and looks around the corner of another house to see what the commotion is.

"Girls, I don't know what to make from this." Marina says as the toriningen look at Uboa, in his blob form with closed eye markings as he rests peacefully. Madotsuki unconditionally gasps, getting the attention of the toriningen. Before she could run, one of the toriningen tackles her with lightning speed and holds her still.

"So… thought you were going to escape our wrath, huh?" Marina asks as she pulls out a pistol.

"Please, don't hurt me…" Madotsuki says, already feeling as though she were hopeless. Marina laughs loudly as she fires off a shot in the air. Uboa softly groans as he begins opening his eyes, getting a toriningen's attention.

"Uh, Marina…" the toriningen says as she watches Uboa open his eyes completely and let out a demonic roar.

"Can't you see I'm celebrating my triumph?" Marina says as she turns around, only to be shocked and appalled from the awakened Uboa. As the toriningen stares at him, he grins as a red light flashes from his eyes and suddenly makes the toriningen scream in agony as it starts bleeding from the mouth. Its bloodshot eyes and sudden twitching start making Marina uncomfortable.

"Oh shit…" Marina says as she gets tackled by the toriningen and feels her throat getting ripped out. Madotsuki watches in horror as the toriningen rises from the corpse of Marina and lets out a scream. Uboa laughs as he seems to be getting attention from the toriningen holding Madotsuki and flashes his eyes red. Madotsuki looks up to see a blood thirsty toriningen only for a brief moment before it tosses her against the walls and starts attacking the only other non corrupted toriningen remaining.

"This shall herald a new age of chaos! Go forth, my children, and fetch unto me the dreamer!" Uboa commands. The toriningen slowly turn around and see Madotsuki, who's already up from her collision with the wall. Although they don't move quickly, Madotsuki still feels mortified from what she had witnessed as she sprints through the area and undergoes an adrenaline rush. She reaches the south exit of the barracks and runs south before running westward. Soon, she starts feeling tired and hears the toriningen catch up to her.

"No… not like this…" She mutters softly. Just as the toriningen are only twenty feet from her, she uses the last of her dream energy to pinch herself and escape. She slowly awakens as the clock now reads 6:21pm and smells the seasoning used with the noodles. She starts salivating as she rises from the chair and walks to the kitchen to see Masada nearby. He looks at her and smiles.

"I think it's done. Grab a bowl and a glass from the cupboard." He says as he turns from low to off. She opens the cupboard and takes out a bowl. She grabs a glass that is one shelf higher and closes the cupboard as Masada takes the pot to the kitchen table. A few minutes later after the table was set, the two sit down and pour out some noodles from the pot.

"Enjoy." He says as he picks up his fork and tries out the noodles with them.

"Sensei, why are you using a fork for noodles?" Madotsuki asks.

"Because sometimes, elegance just isn't worth it." He replies before putting some noodles in his mouth. The two continue to eat quietly until they both finish what remains in the pot. Masada takes the pot into the kitchen and sees Madotsuki closing her eyes in her chair. Her stomach, full of warm noodles and broth, settles as she slowly falls asleep. He walks toward her and gently shakes her shoulder.

"Wake up, Madotsuki. We'll be visiting Monoe soon enough." He says softly as she opens her eyes and gets out of her chair. She starts walking to the bedroom and into the bathroom before closing the door. Masada just stands by, looking around the apartment living room and kitchen as he ponders what to do until Madotsuki would come out of the bathroom. He hears the phone ring unexpectedly and picks it up.

"Hello?" He asks, only to hear heavy breathing on the other end.

"Is anyone there?" He asks in a nervous tone. The phone on the other end clicks and only a dial tone is heard. Masada puts the phone back and feels uncomfortable when Madotsuki walks into the vicinity. He snaps out of it as Madotsuki looks at him.

"What should we do until 7:30?" She asks. He walks out of the kitchen and into the hallway towards his bedroom. She follows him as he climbs up the bed and picks up the nearby television remote. She lies down next to him and rests her head on his arm, smiling when he looks over at her. She soon closes her eyes and starts falling asleep as he sits still, pondering what to do as he has 48 minutes remaining.

He pulls the note out of his pocket and sighs as he looks at it.

"Dearest Masada…" He silently reads from it, "I regret to inform you that a friend of yours, named Urotsuki perhaps, has recently passed away in the fire of room 102. While you may be upset by the news…"

"This bullshit can't be real at all, can it?" He thinks as he crumples the note. "Besides, from what I can tell, the body found in room 102 hasn't been properly identified at all, according to the newspaper."

He shrugs and turns on the television to watch some random movie he landed on. Figuring that he's not going to watch anything better, he sticks with the movie which ends at 7:27pm. He turns the television off and puts a few pillows where his arm used to be so Madotsuki's head would be supported. He gets off the bed and heads into the bathroom. Two minutes pass before he exits the bathroom and sees Madotsuki still asleep. He walks to and climbs up the bed.

"Wake up, Madotsuki. Now is the time." He says as he gently wakes her up and climbs off the bed as she groans while getting up. She opens her eyes and hops off the bed yawning. After a moment, she starts to follow him to the apartment door. She exits the apartment with Masada and waits for him to lock the door. The two walk toward Monoe's apartment door and knock on it. A moment later, Mr. Tanaka opens the door with a pleasant look.

"Ah, you two are here just in time. Monoe is at the kitchen table with Poniko and Monoko." He says. Masada and Madotsuki enter the apartment and walk down the hallway until they see Monoe sitting with Poniko to her left and Monoko to her right.

"Hey guys, thanks for showing up." She says. Masada and Madotsuki nod as she takes up a nearby seat while Masada stands by Mr. Tanaka.

"They grow up so fast, don't they?" He asks Masada.

"Indeed." Masada says, looking around the room awkwardly. He suddenly feels a glass bottle slip into his hand.

"While you're here, you might as well unwind a little." Mr. Tanaka states as Masada looks at the bottle to find out that it contains wine. "I would rather not see my former intern look so stressed and bothered by life's constant issues."

Meanwhile, Monoe gets up from the table and picks up a large black box on the ground. She struggles somewhat as she puts it onto the table. Equipping a nearby pair of scissors, she opens it to see the box art of a brand new desk top. She drools from the sight of it while Poniko sighs and rolls her eyes. Monoe then picks up Poniko's red box, making her a bit happier. Monoe opens it and finds a small green knit hat.

"I hope you like it." Poniko says as Monoe puts it on.

"It's very comfortable. I love it." Monoe says as she picks up a blue box and opens it to find a book about the Siege of Leningrad. She eyes widen with interest as she picks it up.

"Sensei Masada thought you would like it." Madotsuki says.

"Tell him I said thank you." Monoe says as she puts the book on top of her computer box and attempts to carry it with her to the sisters' bedroom. Monoko pokes Madotsuki's shoulder and gets her attention. As she turns toward Monoko, she sees her with a hand shaped party hat and enters a small state of shock. She slaps the hat off of Monoko's head.

"Mado, are you okay?" Monoko asks.

"I'm fine, really." She answers quickly. Monoko looks at Madotsuki oddly as she fidgets slightly.

"Then why did you slap my hat off?" She asks. Madotsuki stays silent as she looks at the table, trying to ignore Monoko's question. Monoko sighs, knowing that getting an answer from Madotsuki regarding some of her strange behavior is going to be impossible.

"Okay then, I won't wear the hand hat." Monoko says as she rolls her eyes. Poniko motions Monoko to follow her. As Monoko gets out of her chair and follows Poniko into the bathroom, Poniko closes the door and looks sternly at Monoko.

"How do you put up with her? She's a sleepy little freak that never answers anything you ask." Poniko asks.

"Because she's usually nice and plays games with me." Monoko answers.

"She hasn't even played anything with you for over two months." Poniko says, "Besides, I think there might be something strange going on with Madotsuki and Masada. She seems rather 'interested' in the guy. Meanwhile, Masada seems to be acting rather weird anytime someone talks to him, like he's got a dirty secret he's doing a bad job of concealing."

"They can't be doing anything strange, can they?" Monoko asks in a worried tone.

"You would be surprised what you may find out about someone if they were to slip something out during a period of high stress." Poniko says, just a split second before someone knocks on the bathroom door.

"Guys, hurry up in there! I have to go!" Monoe says on the other side. Monoko and Poniko nod at each other as they open the door and exit. Monoe looks at the two strangely as the pass her and walk back to the kitchen table.

"I'm starting to think that those two are plotting something regarding Madotsuki... I don't like it." Monoe thinks as she enters the bathroom and closes the door. The two girls get back to their kitchen table seats and look at Madotsuki, who has fallen asleep at the table. Her head leans against the back of the chair as she quietly slumbers.

"I wonder what she dreams about." Monoko says.

"It would most likely be something really fucking boring." Poniko says, unknowingly receiving a nasty look from Monoe who just walked out from the bathroom.

"I would expect something a bit nicer being said about Madotsuki, Poniko." Monoe says startling Poniko. Poniko turns around and smiles nervously at the sight of her. "She may not be the most social butterfly out there, but she at least doesn't talk shit about people when they are asleep."

"Monoe, I-" Poniko starts up until Monoe raises her index finger in the air to silence her.

"Not another word out of you." Monoe says.

"I'll be right back with the cake!" Monoko says as she walks into the kitchen and soon walks out with a white frosted rectangular cake, with '16' marked in red frosting on the top. She sets the cake on the table and walks into the kitchen to fetch some plates, cups and forks. Madotsuki slowly begins awakening and yawns.

"Hey there, little buddy, how are you doing tonight?" Poniko says politely, trying to not start a fight with Monoe.

"I'm doing fine." Madotsuki replies. "Why are you being so polite?"

"Oh nothing." Poniko says as Monoko approaches the table to hand out plates, glasses, forks and a knife. As the girls take their pieces of eatery, Monoe cuts off a big slice of the cake with the knife she was given and puts it on her plate. She licks her lips as she hands the knife to Poniko. The cycle continues until everyone has their slices. Only five minutes pass before the girls finish eating their cake slices.

"This cake was good." Monoko says.

"Yeah, and it wasn't really too expensive either." Monoe says, licking some frosting off her lip.

"Not the best cake ever, but it had its place in the universe." Poniko says, patting her stomach. Madotsuki sighs in relief and drinks some more milk from her glass. In the nearby living room, Masada sits by a sleeping Mr. Tanaka and continues to watch some television until he turns it to video mode and looks at the SNES.

"I'm sure Mr. Tanaka won't mind it if I play a round of Contra 3." He thinks as he turns on the SNES and waits for the Konami screen. Madotsuki looks to her left and sees Masada at the television. She finishes her glass of milk and walks toward him with a look of curiosity. As he presses the start button after selecting 'Options', he turns around to see Madotsuki and smiles. She sits by him as he plays with the settings and exits the menu to play.

"Playing on hard? Monoko would be interested if she and Poniko weren't talking about stuff together." She says.

"I played several hour marathons of this when I was around ten. I know what I'm getting myself into." He replies, mowing down enemies quickly and dodging projectiles with amazing reaction time. She leans on his arm, causing him to momentarily lose control of his character for a second and die. Minutes pass as he expertly completes the first two levels until Poniko, Monoe and Monoko sit nearby and watch him play.

"We should play together, Sensei." Monoko says, impressed by his skill.

"He's a busy man, Monoko. He doesn't get home until 5:20pm at the very least." Monoe says, leaving Monoko with a sad look on her face.

"I'm not going to lie, you're better at this than I am." Poniko says. Soon enough, Masada gets bored and pauses the game before handing the controller to Monoko.

"It's getting late for Madotsuki and I. We have get up in the morning at 5:30. Happy birthday and be sure to start coming to school when you feel better, Monoe." He says as he gets up from off the ground and starts to walk towards the apartment door hallway with Madotsuki. Monoe and Poniko wave goodbye as the two exit the apartment and walk towards room 116, pleased with how things turned out.

"What did Monoe get for her birthday? I was too busy talking to her father about things from ages ago." Masada asks.

"Just a computer, a green hat Poniko got her, and the book you got her." Madotsuki answers.

"It's nice to see her so happy for once." He says as he unlocks the door and heads in. After he closes the door when Madotsuki follows him inside and locks it shut, he walks into his bedroom and jumps onto the bed, relaxing as he lands softly on the covers. Madotsuki does the same as he looks at the clock nearby.

"8:25pm. I'll bathe first." He says as he rolls off the bed and grabs his boxers and bathrobe from off the bed and walks into the bathroom. He closes the door and strips down before entering the shower. He starts up the water and feels the warmth overtake his system. However, as he suddenly wonders if the note was telling the truth, he starts feeling uncomfortable as he washes himself. His memories of Urotsuki are also coming back to him quickly; reminding him of all the fun he had with her at the park, the movies, and even back at home before his father lost his job and was soon arrested for attempted robbery that resulted in the deaths of seven people, including a convenience store employee.

He finishes up and turns off the water. He opens the shower door and grabs a towel to dry off. As he dries himself off, he starts to miss Urotsuki severely. Three minutes pass before he puts on his boxers and bathrobe before leaving the bathroom. He sees Madotsuki turn her head towards him and walks into the bathroom with her pajamas and closes the door. He walks over to the bed and climbs it. He turns off the light and crawls to his side of the bed. While he pulls the covers over himself, he closes his eyes and thinks back to his teenage years during the late nineties.

Twenty minutes pass before Madotsuki opens the bathroom door and walks out. After turning out the bathroom light, she sees Masada sleeping peacefully in bed and walks up to the bed. She climbs it and softly pecks him on the forehead before pulling the covers up to herself and closing her eyes. She immediately feels warm and fuzzy as she is lulled to sleep by the sound of the air conditioning.


	19. Chapter 18: A Little Off

Chapter 18: A Little Off

The night rolls on as Monoe sits in her computer chair, watching the status bar of a file transfer window. She sighs and looks to her left at Monoko, who is sleeping peacefully in bed with a very soft white blanket. She looks back at her computer and stares at the screen. Her computer clock reads 11:13pm as she sees the status bar bump slowly to 13%. Just as she continues staring at the screen, she hears a loud crash and the sound of papers flying in the building hallway.

"What the…" She thinks as she quietly gets out of her chair and exits her bedroom to look out the apartment door's viewing piece. She sees a person in a cloak with a plague doctor mask picking up papers that are strewn about the ground, muttering things to herself as she picks them up at a hurried pace.

Monoe stands by awkwardly before she shrugs her shoulders and goes back the sisters' bedroom and sits at her computer, curious about the person she saw. When she looked at the person, she saw a little bit of blond hair, but she didn't sound like Poniko at all. A moment passes before she remembers the picture she saw in Masada's apartment.

"Could it really be her? Wait, what am I thinking? It can't be her…" She thinks as the status bar bumps to 13.2%.

She continues to watch the status bar before deciding to turn the monitor off and get into bed. She sighs as she pulls up the covers and closes her eyes, hoping the file transfer will be done tomorrow. Hours pass until she awakens at 5:45am and shakes the mouse to wake up the computer from sleep mode. A few seconds go by as the monitor lights up and the windows slowly load, just enough to show her that the file transfer had completed. She smiles as she sets the computer to turn off and heads back to bed.

"Someday, I won't be sick anymore and I would be preparing for school like I usually did." She thinks, smiling, as she closes her eyes.

Elsewhere, Madotsuki exits the bathroom in her school clothes and walks toward Masada's bed. She gently pokes him with her index finger to wake him up.

"Your turn, sensei." She says softly as she walks out to the hallway. She walks through the hallway and makes a turn to the kitchen. She opens the nearby cupboards and grabs a bowl along with a cereal box. She pours out the cereal and closes the door after putting back the box. She walks to the fridge and opens the door to grab a jug of milk. She returns to her cereal bowl and carries both items to the table. She pours the milk onto the cereal and walks back to the fridge. While she opens the door and puts the jug back, she notices something with her peripheral vision and looks to her left to see a large spider, with a roughly two to three inch radius, crawling on the wall. Her eyes open widely and she anxiously grabs her shoe. Although the monsters in her dreams didn't terrify her, spiders were always a massive problem for Madotsuki. So much so that she was scarred for life when, after taking heavy medication for an illness years ago, she saw a massive spider crawl towards her.

Madotsuki slowly walks toward it, but stops after getting to a six foot distance from it. It sits still as she raises her shoe. She successfully hits it then shudders as the body falls into the counter and starts curling up. She gets some paper towels and picks up the spider's carcass, soon dumping it into the trash bin nearby. She walks to the silverware drawer and opens it to grab a spoon. She closes the drawer and heads back to her cereal bowl at the table.

Minutes pass as she eats all of the bowl's contents, letting out a belch before walking to the bedroom and seeing Masada exit the nearby bathroom, dressed up for teaching. He smiles softly as he passes her and walks into the hallway. She walks into the bathroom and turns on the lights as she grabs her toothbrush. She wets the toothbrush with some water from the sink and applies toothpaste, then begins scrubbing away. When she gets done, she sees some frothy toothpaste foam running down the side of her mouth. She simply wipes it away with her fingers after running them through some water and wipes the side of her mouth off with a towel.

She exits the bathroom and walks out of the bedroom. The smell of freshly toasted bread fills the air as she approaches the kitchen table, looking at Masada with a cup of tea in his hand. He puts the cup down and turns to his left to see Madotsuki. She hugs him tightly before heading to the nearby chair to get a nap out of the way. She sits down in the chair and closes her eyes, letting the sleepiness overtake her. Soon, the whisking begins and she now finds herself in the red hellish world from long ago. The air, although not scorching, was certainly hot enough to make her feel uncomfortable. She walks through the various hallways and rooms before she encounters a large gateway with a zigzag edged entrance.

"Where will this take me?" She thinks to herself as she enters it and warps away to a forest setting, similar to where she first encountered a toriningen kill someone. As she takes a few steps, she feels as though someone is watching her. At first, she walks cautiously to the east, but the sound of a twig snapping sends her sprinting through the forest until it is too dark for her to see anything. She looks around hopelessly, afraid that this maybe another nasty trick being performed by Sensei Oni. Just as all was felt to be lost, an object clinks as it rolls into her shoe. She picks it up and, after feeling the sides of it, determines that it is a lamp. She fiddles around to find a knob to twist and, spontaneously, it lights up.

She lets out a sigh of relief and continues down the path she believes she was once on with her new found lamp. After several minutes of walking, she encounters a lone train car in the forest. She curiously opens the door to find a strange black figure sit in one of the two available big seats. Already distrustful of anyone that she would not consider a friend, she sits in the other big seat for a brief moment. Not before long, the figure turns to Madotsuki with a blank expression.

"You may exit the car now, miss." It says bluntly.

She stares at the figure for a second, pondering whether or not to trust him. A moment passes as she makes her verdict and walks to the door she came in from. She opens it to find that the train car has somehow moved to a different portion of the forest. She exits the train car and walks westward, the only direction available. Immediately, she sees girls with long black hair, dark blue dresses, and red shoes just as dark in tone as the dresses; all lined up near the lake with their hair blowing as the chilly breeze comes in.

Madotsuki herself shudders as she walks southward until she sees a bridge that leads to the west. She gets on the bridge and begins walking, only to soon see horrible wooden figures in the lake water nearby. Each figure has a look of horror on their faces, as though they knew their fates were going to be far worse than death. She reaches the end of the bridge and sees a single leafless tree to her southwest.

She walks toward it and feels the tough black bark. She turns around the side of it to see a face with open eyes and a mouth, occasionally breathing. Something catches her eye as she looks down at the trunk of the tree and finds a note.

"Perhaps you may wish to engage with a broom instead of a spaceship? Take the elevator and right escalator downward and your wish may be granted." She reads, wondering how she could get back to the mall. As she walks back to the bridge, the dream world begins fading out to white. Madotsuki opens her eyes to see Masada right next to her.

"Are you ready to go?" He asks. She nods as she gets up from the chair and gets her backpack nearby. The two exit the apartment together and, after locking the door, walk down the hallway until they turn left and exit the building. While they walk to the car, parked on the other side of the lot; they pass the plague doctor masked person standing on the sidewalk, looking at her watch and occasionally glancing around at the scenery.

"That person is creeping me out." Madotsuki says quietly.

"You're not alone." Masada responds as he unlocks the doors. The two get into their seats and Madotsuki, while Masada is turning on the engine, sees the masked woman staring at them from the sidewalk. He pulls the vehicle out of the parking spot and soon reaches the lot exit. He makes a left turn and begins driving away, no longer concerned about the masked person and instead on paying attention to whatever else is on the road.

Madotsuki looks out her window and sees several building pass by, including a strange diner of sorts named Yume Tabemono. The sky is still very dark and the temperature is still somewhat chilly, despite the car's heater fighting the cold. The air in the car is quite dry, though, and begins to sting her nose slightly as she breathes in. She looks at Masada as he pays attention to his driving and occasionally rotating the wheel to maintain his direction.

"Sensei, what's it like in the teacher's lounge at school?" She asks.

"It's not as wonderful of a place as it sounds." He says. "It's the teacher equivalent of a class room while the lecturer is gone, only the immature discussions taking place are now even more vulgar. The only time I could stand going in there is during the 9:20am to 9:30am break I have, while there is still some coffee left and either Mister Oni, Missus Ishii or Mister Ogawa aren't there to talk abut disturbing things.

"What about Sensei Maruyama?" Madotsuki says.

"He never goes in there, probably due to the rumors regarding him. It would only brew a lot of trouble for the guy." He replies, stopping for a red light. "Plus, before the rumors, he only went in there once to try the coffee."

Madotsuki relaxes in her seat and closes her eyes. Although she doesn't feel the whisk coming on, the air is starting to warm up and begins to make Madotsuki feel cozy. The car seat itself wasn't anything special, but the atmosphere of it all was extremely comforting. Minutes go by before Masada turns on the radio and the first thing that begins to play is jazz. He smiles softly as he refocuses on the road while Madotsuki sits by with her eyes still closed. As he stops for another red light, he looks at Madotsuki. Her brown hair, carefully bound with two big braids to create tails, looks as soft as ever while her skin is most likely smooth as a baby's. He reaches a hand to her, only to retract it.

"What am I doing? I'm supposed to drive us to the school, not fondle her in the car! The last thing I need is someone to witness me and lock me up!" He thinks as he sees the light turn green and starts to accelerate again. She opens her eyes and yawns adorably, still tired from getting up early. The rest of the drive continues on uneventfully as they, after quite a while, pull into the school parking lot and enter the usual spot. He cuts off the engine and the two exit the vehicle with their bearings. Masada locks up the car and walks with Madotsuki to the entrance. They soon enter and walk through the expectedly quiet halls before making a left turn to the class room.

He unlocks the door and opens it enough to turn on the lights. They enter the room and walk to their places. He places the briefcase on the table and opens it up to take out his laptop along with other goodies. She looks at the clock in the room to see it read 7:12am while Masada turns on his laptop, eager to get started with his schedule. He eventually types in his password and presses enter as he looks at Madotsuki again.

"I wonder what goes on in her head when she sleeps… must be something far more exciting than this crap." He thinks as he sees her rest against her arms on the desk, waiting for time to pass. He opens up his web browser and begins checking email. A title regarding Mister Maruyama catches his eyes and he opens up the email. A moment passes as he bears a somewhat relieved look while reading the email.

"Seems that the rumors were false after his place was searched and nothing turned up." He thinks. Minutes pass until Madotsuki grabs her backpack and walks out of the room, just after hugging Masada goodbye. He closes his eyes and sits back in his chair as he sighs. He knows that the school day is not going to be a nice one at all, especially when Oni is handing out tests today. Nevertheless, he straightens himself up and prepares for the oncoming students.

Two classes later, at 9:24am; Masada exits the classroom and walks down the hallway until he touches the knob of a door, with a label nearby reading 'Teacher's Lounge'. He sighs in relief as he walks in and finds nobody in sight. He walks past the sofa and towards the coffee pot on a nearby counter. He pours some of the coffee into a Styrofoam cup next to the coffee pot and takes a sip before leaving a disgusted look on his face.

"Yup, that's definitely the coffee around here." He thinks, still in shock from the astonishing taste. "Truth be told, it can't get much worse than this."

The door opens and Masada turns around to see, much to his dismay, both Oni and Ishii.

"Masada, Oni thinks he's a good teacher. A good teacher doesn't look at porn on a computer screen easily viewable from the hallway!" Ishii complains.

"Ishii doesn't know shit. All she knows about is being a spoilsport and a bad language arts teacher. A real teacher would make the students learn stuff without holding their hands!" Oni retaliates. Masada just stares at the two, waiting for this all to end. The two continue their drivel until Masada finally pushes both of them out of his way and rushes out the door with his coffee cup. He closes the door and starts walking to his classroom while he looks at his watch.

"9:29am… At least Madotsuki is in this group." He thinks as he approaches the students outside of his classroom door. He opens the door and, while beckoning students to come in, enters the classroom. More time passes until 11:20. The last of the students exit the classroom whereas Masada sits at his desk, performing more operations with his computer. His stomach growls as he sets it to stand by mode and rises from his chair, eager to eat.

He exits the classroom and locks the door, fearing that the students would steal his stuff, before leaving for the cafeteria. He casually walks eastward until he reaches the cafeteria doors and opens them. He stands in line next to Maruyama.

"I didn't think you were cheap enough to eat this slop as well, Masada." He says as he shifts his glasses with rectangular lenses.

"I don't have a lucky brick of ramen in my desk this time around." Masada responds as the line moves onward. The two share a laugh as the line continues progressing. A minute later, Masada exits the line and walks toward the teacher's table to the south with a tray containing small servings of yakisoba and teriyaki chicken. He sits next to Maruyama and begins eating. As he has a mouthful of chicken, he sees into the distance Madotsuki being surrounded by two older girls, as though she is getting pestered.

"I don't like what is going on over there…" He thinks, watching the scene after swallowing his food.

The second he sees her get dragged from her seat, he quickly rises to his feet and starts walking towards them with a displeased look. He grabs one of their shoulders and let's them know he means business.

"What's going on here?" He asks.

"N-nothing, s-sir!" one of the older girls say.

"They just threatened me for money!" Madotsuki says.

"You two, in my classroom, now!" He says in a very harsh tone. "If you don't follow me into my classroom, then bear in mind that Sensei Oni would be glad to have some more people in detention. He's been getting bored recently."

The two girls gulp and follow Masada while he goes back to the teacher's table for his tray before he leaves the room. Madotsuki simply sits still, amazed that Masada had actually stopped two trouble makers before anything serious happened. She resumes eating her lunch peacefully with Monoko sitting next to her doing the same. The hours pass before the 3:30pm bell rings and Madotsuki enters Masada's classroom.

"Thanks for helping me with those big mean girls, Sensei. What ever happened to them?" She asks, curious about the ordeal.

"They promised never to trouble other students again, especially after I went into detail of what Oni does to people in detention." He replies with a grin. "Even Monoe, a student that aces even Oni's math class, doesn't like him."

"I like you, though." She says as she hugs him tightly and rubs her face on his suit.

"I get that a lot from my students." He says softly as she backs from him, still smiling. She takes her seat at the front of the various rows of student desks and yawns before resting her head on her arms. She closes her eyes and slowly lulls herself to sleep.

She feels the whisk come on and soon materializes outside of the elevator, near the fiery tunnel to the west. After getting the idea to visit Masada, she walks westward and sees the fire, but this time there isn't an extinguisher nearby. She sighs as she walks eastward, passing the elevator, and marches up the stairs, eager to never again visit the department store.

The second she reaches a certain step, she feels a jolt go through her body and she suddenly finds herself in her bed, back at her home apartment. She slowly crawls out of bed and looks around. The air felt even chillier than usual as she walks to the nearby television and presses the power button. The screen lights up and displays an eye figure while occasionally flickering. After a moment, she turns it off and walks toward the doorway. She opens the door and walks out into the 'nexus'.

As she walks past the first two doors, she sees the red door to her right close immediately. Becoming curious, she approaches the red door and enters it. The world around her is very dark, but there are puddles in sight that reflect the dream atmosphere. She takes a few steps and feels a raindrop land on her head. The raindrops continue to fall while her walk becomes a jog, and later a sprint. The rain is really coming down on her as she sprints through the dreamscape until she sees a familiar figure hold an umbrella. The figure seemingly turns toward her and beckons to her as she runs to him.

"S-sensei?" She nervously stammers. His eyes are, as per usual in the dream world, locked into opposite directions when he looks down at her before sharing the umbrella with her.

"Thank you…" She says before hugging him. He simply walks with her in the rainy world, with a blank expression. The rain comes down even harder as they trudge through the wet ground, occasionally stepping in puddles. Eventually, the rain lightens greatly and eventually the rain drops nearly cease. He closes the umbrella and holds onto it with his left hand.

Madotsuki breathes in the moist air as she follows Masada through the puddle covered world until they find a downward tunnel entrance, pink on the outside. They look at each other briefly before deciding to go into the tunnel. Seconds later, they find themselves in a forest setting, near a drink machine and a gap in the trees that reveals a side of some road. Masada approaches the drink machine and takes out two one hundred and one fifty yen coins after seeing the price for cold drinks. He puts in the coins and presses the button labeled 'sakuranbo' twice.

Two cans of cherry juice come out and he gives a can to Madotsuki. She thanks him as they open the cans. She drinks the juice and smiles while Masada shudders from how sweet it was, but he nevertheless drinks the last of it. They put the cans into the nearby bin and walk towards the road, unable to decide where to go.

"Let's go east!" She suggests. He shrugs his shoulders and follows her on the road until the two stop when it becomes too dark to see anything off the road. She looks around and jumps a little from the sight of the Y-shaped creatures that stare from above. Although they vary in color from red, pink, and purple; they each have the same soulless stare that begins to make Madotsuki nervous. Masada grabs her arm and leads her out of the area westward, until the area becomes light enough to see the trees.

Unfortunately, the trees seem darker and rain pours down lightly. He puts up the umbrella then covers himself and Madotsuki from the rain. The two walks together further west until something causes Masada to stop in his tracks: A dead body to the west. He rushes from the cover of the umbrella and runs to the body to find out it is Shitai. He kneels down to the body and sighs, simultaneously sad and disappointed with the sight; while Madotsuki looks at the body strangely. He soon rises from the body and walks back to Madotsuki for cover from the rain. Just as she was about to speak, the dream begins fading slowly to black.

She gently awakens at her desk and sees Masada, about to close up his laptop. He puts his folders into the nearby briefcase and then closes up his laptop before putting in the case as well. He closes the case and secures the metallic snaps on the opening as he gets up from his chair. He grabs his chair and looks toward Madotsuki.

"Get your things, Madotsuki. We're going to leave." He says, pointing at the backpack. She rubs her eyes and then grabs her backpack. She follows him out of the classroom after turning off the light. He closes and locks the door, thinking about what to have for dinner. The two walk down the hallways until they exit the building and head towards his car. As they get into the car and put on their seat belts, he looks to his right towards the parking lot sidewalk to see the same woman from earlier today: Dressed in a plague doctor mask, black cloak, and brown gloves. He gives the person a strange look before turning the engine on and backing out of the parking spot. He accelerates to the lot exit and stops before making a right turn onto the main road. The person stands still, smirking to herself under the mask.

"Why is she always following us?" Madotsuki asks.

"It could just be a coincidence and that person was here for something else…" Masada replies, hoping that is the case. The trip home was, surprisingly, nine minutes shorter than expected; much to his surprise as he pulls into the apartment building parking lot and finds a nice spot nearby the entrance. After he parks, he turns the engine off and takes his key out. He and Madotsuki exit the car and, after closing and locking the doors, embark on walking to the building entrance.

He opens the door and continues walking until he makes a right turn towards the hallway of apartment doors, eventually stopping at his. He unlocks and opens the door before, suddenly, Madotsuki rushes past him as she sprints to the bedroom to change. Unable to change in the bedroom, he closes the door and walks to a chair in the living room. He sits down and puts his briefcase next to the chair, tired as ever.

"It's about 5:18pm; I got to come up with something to feed that girl with…" He thinks as he stares into space. A moment later, he takes off his outer suit jacket as he feels overheated by it. Before he could resume thinking, the bedroom door opens and Madotsuki walks out in her casual clothes. He gets up and, with his suit jacket still in his hand, walks to the bedroom. She watches the door close and turns back to the chair to find his briefcase. She picks it up and opens the case, revealing his laptop and papers. Knowing that he would make things truly difficult for her should he catch her with his equipment, she closes the case and puts it back where she found it.

She wanders into the kitchen and opens the pantry, nearly drooling from the various items inside. While still entranced by the food, Masada opens the bedroom door and walks out into the living room/kitchen area. He sees Madotsuki in the pantry and chuckles slightly.

"Are you hungry?" He asks, taking her by surprise. "If so, got any suggestions?"

"Macaroni and cheese." She says, pointing to a box of the stuff. He grabs the box and puts it on the counter while he begins fetching a pot from the nearby cupboard. She walks out of the kitchen and towards the bedroom, where the television set was located. He gets a pot out from the cupboard and takes it to the sink to pour some water in it. He opens the box and pours the noodles into the watery pot. He places the pot over a stove burner and sets the burner to high.

"Now to wait…" He thinks as he walks to his bedroom door and opens it to see Madotsuki on the bed, snoozing away. He looks at the nearby end table and grabs his science fiction novel before exiting the room and heading back to the kitchen. He sees the water is about to boil and opens up the silverware drawer to grab a spoon. He begins stirring the noodles to make sure they don't stick to the sides of the pot before putting the spoon down and opening up his novel.

Minutes pass as he becomes more engrossed with the book. The sound of water boiling over breaks his concentration and he takes the pot off the burner while blowing on the bubbles to help dissolve them quicker. He scowls from the mess on the stove, but he simply shrugs his shoulders and puts the pot down to find a strainer in the cupboards. He opens a nearby cupboard and grabs the strainer, ready to get things underway. He places the strainer in the sink and dumps the noodles into it before putting the noodles back into the pot.

He opens the fridge door and grabs both the milk jug along with a container of butter before closing the door and setting the items onto the counter. He takes a measuring cup from a different cupboard and fills it with a 1/4th cup of milk. He scoops a tea spoon of butter into the pot and pours the milk as well. He puts the butter and milk back, and then begins mixing it all together. Two minutes go by as he finishes up mixing the milk, butter and noodles as he rips open the cheese powder packet to pour it on the noodles.

More mixing continues until the noodles and cheese powder are combined to near perfection. He puts the pot on the kitchen table and starts walking to the bedroom again to find Madotsuki still asleep. He gently shakes her shoulder, causing her to groan.

"It's dinner time." He says softly before leaving the room. He walks back to the kitchen to get himself a glass. As he grabs a glass from a cupboard nearby, he sees Madotsuki walking to the kitchen. She gets a cup from the cupboard before he closes it. He grabs a fork for him and Madotsuki from the silverware drawer, passing one to her as he goes by. Eventually, the two sit at the table after much preparation.

"Sensei, thanks for making dinner for me again." She says as she pours a few spoonfuls of pasta on to her plate to enjoy.

"No problem." He says as he pours some pasta for himself. The two begin eating the noodles. It wasn't long before they ate the remaining macaroni and cheese in the pot. She lets out a belch, excusing herself immediately. Masada picks up his plate along with the pot while getting up and walks toward the sink before putting them in.

"Just put them in the sink. I'll put it all in the dishwasher before it's all said and done." He says in a tired tone as he walks out of the kitchen and into the bedroom, not without closing the door the second he can. She hops out of the chair with her plate and walks to the sink to place it gently on the other dirty dishes. As she walks to her usual living room chair, she hears someone knock at the door. She strolls to the door and looks through the apartment door's viewing piece, seeing a man with a familiar hat and overcoat.

Nearly paralyzed with fear, she slowly backs from the door and quietly sits in the living room chair, trying to not much enough noise to let him know she is there. The knocking sounds are heard again, this time much louder than before.

"Is anyone home?" He asks, slightly muffled by the door. She stays quiet, afraid that he will only harm her if she opens the door. A moment passes until she determines him to be gone, judging by the lack of hat and overcoat when she looks through the viewing piece. She walks to the bedroom and opens the door to find it without Masada; however the bathroom door is closed and the sound of water running is present.

She climbs up the side of the bed and sees the remote next to the pillows. She picks it up and turns on the television with it, wondering what she's going to watch. It appears she is on the news channel when the video and audio come on. When Madotsuki is about to change the channel, she hears something about the body that was found on Tuesday night.

"So far, police have not been able to identify the body at all. They have not found any form of identification regarding the dead woman, despite the constant investigation around the area. If anyone knows about the deceased person, please contact us at-" A news person reads from a sheet of paper until Madotsuki changes the channel.


	20. Chapter 19: Dawning Hope

Chapter 19: Dawning Hope

"You're getting better, Mado!" Monoko says to Madotsuki as she turns off the SNES. "It's like you're almost better at Contra than Monoe!"

Madotsuki smiles softly as she rises from the living room floor and begins walking towards the apartment door. Monoko catches Madotsuki by the arm with a look of surprise.

"You have to go now?" Monoko asks sadly.

"I promised to Sensei that I'd be back before 9pm." Madotsuki replies. The two hug each other before she exits the apartment and begins walking back to room 116. She opens the door and, just after locking in addition to closing the door, walks into the strangely quiet living room. Before she passes the nearby kitchen, she feels something is behind her. She turns around and sees a ghostly image of the gray suited man, complete with his hat and overcoat. She lets out a high pitched scream and bolts for the bedroom door. The second she opens the door, the image vanishes away instantly as she runs to Masada, who's currently on the bed reading a book.

"Sensei, I saw a creepy guy in the hallway!" She says in a panicked tone, only to see he's gone when she turns around to point. Masada sighs as he sees nothing there.

"Are you feeling okay, Madotsuki? I don't see anyone there and I certainly didn't hear anyone else enter the apartment before you did." He asks, starting to be concerned about her.

"He was there! He had a big hat, an overcoat, and he was walking towards me!" She says, still failing to get Masada to believe her.

"Listen… why don't you go bathe while I check the apartment. That way, you'll be ready for bed soon and I'll make sure we're secure." He says, slightly annoyed, as he hops off the bed and walks out of the bedroom. She opens her mouth to speak, but he is already out of the bedroom. She walks into the bathroom with her pajamas and closes the door. After taking off her clothes, she enters the shower chamber and starts up the water.

She begins to relax as the warm water comes down onto her. She picks up the nearby shampoo bottle and squirts out some in her hand. Time passes as she scrubs her hair and body, eventually turning off the water after rinsing. She opens the shower door and grabs a towel. She dries herself off and puts on her pajamas, feeling refreshed but tired. Her eyes feel very heavy as she walks out of the bathroom and sees Masada enter the bedroom as well.

"I've checked all around and I didn't see anything out of the ordinary." He says, even more skeptical of her claim. "You did lock the door when you came back in, right?"

"I did, Sensei." She replies.

"Then we shouldn't have any worries. Now, if you are done tidying up, then you can head to bed now." He says; eager to get some sleep. She heads back to the bathroom and picks up her toothbrush. After putting some water on the bristles and then putting on the toothpaste, she starts cleaning away for a minute before spitting. She rinses off her toothbrush and puts it away before turning the sink on and cupping her hands for water. She slurps up the water, swishes, and spits out. She turns out the bathroom light and exits to the bedroom, where she climbs up the bed and puts herself under the covers on her side of the bed.

The cooling air during the late fall season relaxes her greatly as she closes her eyes. Only moments later, she feels the familiar whisk come on and warps to the dream world. She opens her eyes to find herself on the foreign planet surface again, only yards away from the visibly wrecked spaceship. Its metallic figure is horribly mangled with holes and dents, while some parts appear to have stayed barely intact. The stairs that lead up into the ship are bruised and dented as well while she climbs up them. To her surprise, she finds Masada still there at the command deck, unharmed by the crash.

She rushes to him and hugs him, taking him on by complete surprise as he looks around awkwardly and stays silent. She backs from him a bit and smiles as he recollects his bearings. He looks back to the piano keys and continues pressing notes. Her interest in his music wanes as she walks past him and enters the door up ahead. She sees a bed slightly to her right and a window high above to her left, though barely visible from her position. She approaches the bed and runs her hand over the covers of the smooth, comfy white sheets.

As she exits the room, she sees Masada staring into the command deck window; looking whimsically into the distance at the rocks and hills in the distance.

"Sensei, are you okay?" She asks while looking into his eyes. He stays silent as he looks back at her for a brief moment before staring through the window again. The rocky hills of the planet give both Madotsuki and Masada an isolated feeling. Suddenly, a loud banging sound is heard outside and the two look at the entrance room; afraid of what may be down there. He looks back at her and then at the door before slowly walking towards the entrance room. She brandishes her knife while following him.

They soon exit the ship and look around, only to see the gray suited man walking away into the distance up ahead. She taps Masada's arm to get his attention and points toward the gray suited man.

"Follow me." She says as she follows him, with Masada nearby. Nearly a minute passes as they pursue him until they see him grab a small blue remote from his pocket and press the button; suddenly shrinking him down enough to jump down a nearby hole. Unexpectedly, she sees that the trinket is on the ground, untouched by its magical shrinking properties. She picks up the remote and presses the button, instantly shrinking down enough to be, at most, two inches high. Masada looks down at her with confusion before shrugging his shoulders. The two wave goodbye to each other as Masada walks back to his space ship.

She hops down the hole and finds herself in a small little room with some downward stairs to her left. She walks down the stairs until she finds the ceiling to be of sufficient enough height to change back to normal. She presses the button again and returns to her normal height. She continues down the stairs until she looks around the room nearby while she puts the remote into her pocket. Wrecked computers and research equipment line around the room along with the floor being covered in dust and debris. The ceiling is also dirty and punctured as bits fall from above, getting into her hair.

She walks a few yards until she sees a sickly dark blue creature up ahead, shaped like a lamp with a red eye around the top. The eye drips a green fluid, almost like a tear, as it stays in place. She approaches it cautiously and reaches towards it with her hand. She hears a soft melody play when she touches the skin, reminding her of Sensei Masada's piano.

"Poor thing… it's so lonely…" She thinks as she feels the skin some more, admiring its smoothness. A loud crash is heard above, breaking her focus on the lamp creature, and makes her look around in terror. This time, Uboa in his blob form drops from the ceiling and starts to sprout tentacles from his sides. She attempts to run away but she feels something wrap around her leg and soon throw her against the wall.

The sound of Uboa's deep voice fills the air with laughter as she gets up raggedly. She brandishes her knife and cuts open a tentacle that approaches her, causing Uboa to growl in discomfort as she bolts to the staircase. After she reaches as high against the ceiling as possible, she takes out the remote from her pocket and presses the button to shrink herself. She climbs into the small room and crawls up the hole, utilizing the bumps and concave spots in the upper passage. She finally reaches the top and takes out her remote before she hears Uboa's roar from below. She presses the button and returns to normal height while running back to Masada's ship.

"Sensei, we have to get out of here! Something is chasing me!" She cries out to him as she runs up the stairs and into the main room, getting his attention. He looks at her with a confused look before opening a hidden compartment under his piano, revealing wires that have exposed copper tips that spark occasionally. He looks to the table to see a glass of water for a brief moment before the familiar roar is heard. From the entrance room comes Uboa slowly crawling along, ready to do whatever is necessary to seal her fate. Madotsuki comes up with an idea as she runs to the water glass and knocks it over, wetting the floor. Masada stands by in confusion, not knowing what she is doing, until she grabs a sparking wire from under the piano. Uboa sprouts a tentacle as he inches into the water puddle before she throws the wire into the puddle, electrocuting Uboa.

He lets out a painful scream before he can no longer bear the pain and starts melting. She picks up the wire by the rubber coating and pulls it out of the water puddle before putting it somewhere drier. She sighs in relief that Uboa is now gone from the dream world and can only return if she were to ever flip the light switch off at Poniko's island again.

"We may be stuck here, but at least he's gone…" She says, happy with how she handled the situation. Masada shrugs his shoulders as he walks into the ship's 'bedroom'. She follows him into the bedroom and sees him laying down, relaxing on the white sheets and staring into the ceiling with a look of concern. As she approaches him, she suddenly awakens and feels her gut rumble as she reads the clock to her left.

"5:12am… I got to go…" She thinks as she gets out of bed and casually walks to the bathroom. She closes the door while Masada lies in bed, still dreaming. He currently finds himself lurking the sewers as Urotsuki follows him.

"It should be up ahead!" She says, pulling out a key from her skirt pocket.

"I hope you're right." He replies as he points the flashlight nervously ahead of him. They stop when they see a metallic box in the foot high water. She runs ahead of him and picks up the box with her left hand, smiling as she tries to unlock it. He looks at her as she mumbles obscenities to herself before it opens, revealing a wad of yen notes, containing around twenty five thousand yen. Her eyes brighten as she shows him the box.

"Awesome! Now to split this up when we get back to the surface!" She says excitedly as they start to head back the other way. Her tone changes after a few seconds. "Well… don't know how, unless we change one of these thousand yen notes with two five hundred yen coins, we're going to perfectly split this up."

"I'm just happy to see us get something out of this, period." He says, content with their treasure. They continue to walk until they see a ladder leading upwards. He steps out of the way for Urotsuki to start climbing the ladder before he begins climbing as well. She lifts the manhole lid and climbs out. She turns back to Masada to beckon him as he soon climbs out of the hole and puts the lid back on.

He looks around to see that he's in the park. Before he contemplates going home, he feels Urotsuki grab his arm.

"Komuro, visit my place in two hours. I'll be ready to have more fun when I don't smell like shit." She says before letting go of him as she begins walking away. He sighs before walking out of the park and towards a nearby bus stop. His odor gets the attention of a nearby business man and a young girl, netting him awkward stares. A moment passes as the bus arrives and, as the doors opens, Masada gets on board after paying up his fare money. He stands by a man with a dark gray hat and overcoat, who looks at him with red glowing eyes.

"Is there something wrong?" Masada asks, worried that the man may not be too happy.

"Aside from that rancid stench, I'm just trying to pass time until I get to my destination." The man says as he pulls out a notepad and a pen. Masada nods as he looks away from him, only to be jolted awake as he feels something pushing his back. He opens his eyes and sees Madotsuki shaking his shoulder. She smiles at him.

"Good morning, Sensei. It's Friday." She says happily, already bathed and clothed in her school attire. "After today, we have the weekend to do fun things!"

He groans as he gets out of bed and gets his teaching clothes from the nearby closet before heading into the bathroom. She walks out of the bedroom and heads to the kitchen to make herself some breakfast. She opens the cupboards to get out the cereal box, which is getting very low, and a bowl. She fills the bowl with cereal until the box is empty. She puts the box next to the trash bin as she walks to the fridge and opens it to grab the milk jug, which is also running pretty low. She takes the jug and closes the door. She also picks up the cereal bowl and places it on the table before pouring milk on it. The jug is now empty as she puts the jug next to the trash bin as well before getting a spoon from the silverware drawer.

She sits at the table and begins eating her cereal. Suddenly, a pounding sound is heard at the apartment door as Madotsuki is chewing. She swallows before getting up from the table and walks to the door. She sees Monoko through the viewing piece and opens the door, smiling softly.

"Hi Mado!" Monoko greets cheerfully.

"Hey, what's up?" Madotsuki asks.

"Monoe is getting some gamepads from the nearby electronics store in the afternoon for her new computer! Want to head over during the afternoon or evening to play some stuff with me?" Monoko asks.

"Sure." Madotsuki replies.

"Aw, you're the best!" Monoko says before hugging Madotsuki. "See you tonight!"

The two wave good bye before she closes the door and heads back to her bowl of cereal. She resumes eating as Masada walks out in his teaching clothes and smiles at Madotsuki before he enters the kitchen to make some toast. She eats the last bit of cereal before chugging down the milk in the bowl. She lets out a breath of fulfillment as she gets up from the table and takes her bowl to the kitchen sink.

"Who was at the door?" He asks.

"It was just Monoko." She replies before exiting the kitchen and heading to the bedroom. He puts in two slices of bread in a toaster on the counter before walking to the apartment door. He opens the door and picks up the news paper before looking to his left to see the strange girl with the plague doctor mask. He stares at her as he backs into his apartment and closes the door. He removes the paper from the plastic coating and unrolls it while walking to the table.


	21. Chapter 20: Failed Sanctuary

Chapter 20: Failed Sanctuary

The clouds in the sky, dark as ever, stir as Madotsuki and Masada walk enter the nearby vehicle. The weather isn't as chilly as usual, but he knows it is going to rain today eventually. He expresses determination as he starts the vehicle and switches to reverse. His eyes burn as he puts the car into drive after getting out of the spot and begins pulling out of the lot. The dry air in the vehicle starts to make it difficult, almost painful in some cases, for Madotsuki to breathe through her nose. Her nose begins to sting slightly, causing her to grimace in pain.

"Something wrong?" Masada asks, looking at her after getting onto the main road.

"My nose hurts…" She replies before breathing with her mouth.

"It's just dry in here. It happens around this time of the year." He says. "Also, open the glove compartment and grab a tissue from there, if you think you're going to get a nose bleed. I imagine there's a small packet of them that has been there for a few weeks."

She opens the compartment and grabs a visible tissue packet prior to opening it up. She takes out a tissue and feels her nostrils with the tissue to find some blood. She puts the packet back in the compartment and closes the door. She looks at Masada and smiles as she says, "Thanks."

The air feels as though it has warmed up considerably since they started their trip to school, making Madotsuki slowly fall asleep. Her eyes gradually close while she relaxes in her car seat, breathing calmly and comfortably as the sound of the engine's soft noise lulls her. A few seconds pass before she finally drifts into the dream world, about to embark on another journey. She spawns just outside of the elevator, near the two downward escalators. However, after quietly deciding not to visit the department store again, she picks the other escalator and heads down it.

A moment passes before she enters a room with a bright opening at the end, glistening with sunlight; despite the cold cloudy weather she was already experiencing earlier this morning. Nevertheless, she goes through the opening and finds herself on top of a building. As she looks around curiously, a black cat meows nearby and grabs her attention for a brief moment. She feels something bump against her leg, causing her to look down and find a black witch hat. She picks up the hat and looks at it curiously.

It looks very old and tattered, but it seems to be sturdy enough to wear comfortably. She feels it gently, noticing the surprisingly soft texture, before putting it on. She suddenly feels something strange is happening as she sees her clothes glow and start morphing into a robe, perfectly shaped and sized for her. She walks forward to the edge of the building and looks down, immediately freaked out by how high she is off the ground. She turns around to head back where she came, only to see a broom on the ground.

"This wasn't here before… where did it come from?" She thinks to herself as she picks it up. An Idea comes to mind as she places the broom between her knees and pretends to be a witch. Suddenly, she lifts into the air a few feet while sitting on the broom. Although initially shocked, she quickly starts to play around with the broom and levitates to certain places on the building roof. She looks back to the building edge and decides to put her new found toy to the test. She levitates off the edge of the building and, after immediate panic, feels exited to be playing around high in the air.

Zooming along the sides of buildings of the city area she's in and occasionally freaking some people out, she has her share of entertainment. However, it wasn't long at all before she sees the gray suited man on a building balcony with a rifle in his hands.

"Sorry, Kiddo; but it's time." He mutters in a rough voice before firing off a shot, instantly snapping her broom in half and sending her falling at high speeds to the ground. Just as she nearly hits the ground, she jolts awake with a displeased expression. She soon sees the school building come up while Masada slows down to make the turn into the parking lot. She sees the woman in the black cloak and mask next to the school building entrance. The person, supposedly aware of the attention by Madotsuki, darts into the school building.

"Sensei! That weird woman from before just entered the building!" She says, nervous about what they may encounter later. He pulls into his parking place and begins his parking routine.

"I know. I saw her too. Of course, I wonder why she's here this early if she really is a student here. Even class homeroom doesn't begin until 7:20am." He replies curiously while he exits his car. Madotsuki exits the car as well and then follows Masada towards the entrance. After opening the door, the building seems strangely quieter than usual; even the noises from teacher's lounge, Oni's classroom, or the receptionist's office aren't being heard.

"I don't like this already." He says as Madotsuki follows him into the hallway. They soon make a left turn and walk towards Masada's classroom, only to hear scurrying behind them. After looking behind to see only a glimpse of the cloaked person's shoe before it was gone, he refocuses on the door as they approach it and he unlocks the door. He flips the light switch and heads to the desk, where he sets his case. Madotsuki walks to her usual seat and sits down, curious about how the weekend will go. Foot steps are heard as she looks over to find a gray suited man walk into the room.

"Hello there, I'm just curious: Do you know where a strange girl in a cloak with a mask went? She has something I need and it looks like she finally gave me the slip." He asks.

"I think she was running out of the building towards the parking lot, by the looks of it." Masada replies in a bewildered tone, wondering how many non-staff are actually in the school building and on school territory before, during, and after normal hours.

"Thanks. By the way, I have the feeling this won't be the last time we'll see each other, Sensei." The man says before walking out of the room towards the building exit route. Masada sighs before returning to his business. Suddenly after viewing the clock, Madotsuki gets out of her chair with her backpack and heads for the door.

"See you later, Sensei!" She says happily. He smiles at her as he gets out of his chair, starting to feel uncomfortable when thinking about what the gray suited man said.

"I think there was something rather ominous regarding that 'this won't be the last time we'll see each other' he said." He thinks. He looks around the classroom for a bit before his homeroom students come in. The hours go by as he teaches class after class, but a doomed persists with him; despite trying not to think about it. When 3:30pm arrives, he sees Madotsuki walk into the room with her almost expected smile. As he returns to his computer, she sits at the seat and rests her head on her arms.

She soon falls asleep and feels the whisk come on. However, as she opens her eyes upon materializing; she sees Masada at his piano, working away as usual. Before she tries to speak to him, he turns around toward her. Although nothing is wrong with his body or even his face, his eyes look as though he just isn't feeling himself.

"Sensei, what's wrong?" She asks, but he remains silent. His face slowly contorts into that of pure anger as he walks toward her. She slowly back away from him while attempting to brandish her knife.

"Sensei, stop it!" She yells. His movement only increases slightly in speed as he continues. She readies herself to fight, but he grabs her wrist. He disarms her immediately and grips her throat ferociously. His face displays a cruel smile as he wraps his other hand around her neck and stares intently in her eyes. She tears up while choking, still unable to find out why he is doing this.

"Good work, Sensei. Now finish her!" A voice calls out from the nearby room to the left of them. A figure walks out, donning a large hat and an over coat of equal dark gray tone. He looks at the gray suited man and suddenly realizes what he's doing. He lets go of Madotsuki and back away from her, with eyes widened as though his sense of guilt has finally kicked in.

"What are you doing? Why did you stop?" The gray suited man says furiously as he spawns a sword and points it at Masada. "Finish her off or you will have wasted my time and effort!"

"Don't tell him what to do, you bastard!" Madotsuki yells weakly, still recovering from the choking from earlier as she grabs her knife. The gray suited man glares at her with contempt, prepared to fight. She charges at him and tries to land a stab, but she misses and feels a swift kick to the chest. She falls to the ground, clutching herself as she curls up to help soothe the pain. He raises his blade and prepares to slice her, only for Masada to grip the man's hand and begin wrestling for control of the blade. She slowly rises from the ground and lands a stab to the chest, only to see the blade pass through him without leaving a trace.

Masada loses his control of the weapon and feels the blade slice through his chest. The gray suited man laughs as Masada clutches against the wall for support before getting stabbed in the chest. Madotsuki only stares in horror as the gray suited man pulls the weapon out from Masada's chest and pushes him off the wall. He hits the ground hard and weakly looks at the gray suited man before he closes his eyes and feels what little life he has left extinguish. She rushes to him and holds him dearly before glaring viciously at the gray suited man.

"You… you killed him!" She softly hisses before screaming, "YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!"

Although she bravely charges at him again, he sidesteps just enough to avoid an oncoming attack and chuckles.

"His existence was a sad one, really. Being bound to your imagination without any ability to speak or even communicate cannot be any fun at all." He states mockingly, causing her to slash at him again. His fades from sight whilst laughing at her futile attempts at vengeance. She walks back to Masada's body and kneels before feeling his smooth forehead.

"Sensei…" She softly speaks as she closes her eyes and gets up from the body. She gets back up onto her legs and opens her eyes before walking out of the room, leaving the body alone. She walks down the stairs and enters the storage facility where she finds the furry mouth blob barking sharply. She sits by it with a somber expression, making it whine. She strokes its fur gently and lets it on to her lap. It nuzzles up to her as she sighs. Suddenly, sounds of footsteps fill the room as she shoos it off and equips her knife. She sees Monoe walking around, only for her to turn around and see her.

"Mado, what are you doing here?" She asks, "This place is probably haunted by the suicidal janitor."

"Sensei… is dead." Madotsuki replies sadly, making Monoe gasp.

"He was a good man. A shame anyone would even think about doing him in." She says solemnly. Madotsuki hugs her tightly as Monoe listens to Madotsuki's soft whimpering.

"At least we have each other." Madotsuki says softly, making Monoe smile. She lets go of Monoe and follows her as they walk down the corridor together with the furry mouth blob close by. They stop by the elevator and, before Madotsuki could press the button, Monoe grabs her arm.

"Don't hit the button! There are three blood hungry toriningen in the shaft, ready to attack you at anytime!" She warns. Madotsuki steps away from the elevator button and looks at Monoe.

"Then where do we go?" She asks, confused as to where they should go. Monoe points toward the stairway to their right. The two venture toward the stairs and start climbing. A minute of trudging passes before Madotsuki suddenly feels lightheaded and the dream world begins to fade out of existence.

"Goodbye, Mado." Monoe says before she awakens to find herself back in the classroom with Masada not in the room. She gets out of the chair and walks toward the desk to see his laptop has been turned off. She looks at the clock nearby and sees it read 4:57pm. She sighs as she sits in the teacher's chair, pretending to be Masada. A bit passes before she hears Masada open the door and see him enter the room.

"Get your things. We're going to be leaving now. Also, we're stopping at the store on the way home because I need to restock on some things." He says as she hops out of the chair and rushes to her backpack. She puts it on and, after he gets his briefcase, follows him out the door. He locks the door before the two head out towards the building exit after taking a right in the hallway. He soon exits the building with Madotsuki and casually strolls to his car. The thoughts of food flood his mind as he unlocks the car doors and they get into their seats. He starts the engine and, after putting the car into reverse, pulls out of his spot. He sets the car into drive and cruises through the lot until he reaches the exit.

"Sensei, what will we have for dinner?" Madotsuki asks, feeling a little hungry.

"Either noodles or something I'll buy from the store." He replies in a bored tone. She stays quiet as they pull out of the lot and onto the road. The soft engine sounds relax her as she struggles to keep her eyes open. She yawns before sitting comfortably with her eyes closed. Masada slows down and makes a right turn into the store parking lot.

Elsewhere after twenty minutes, Poniko knocks on Monoe's door. Her face shows happiness and glee as she prepares to see Monoe for the first time today. The door opens to reveal a healthier than before Monoe. Poniko smiles before walking in and following Monoe to the sisters' bedroom.

"How are you doing today, Monoe?" Poniko asks as she sees Monoe get into her computer chair.

"I'm Feeling better after a week or so of pain, though there's still some queasiness here and there. I should be ready to go back to school after the weekend." She answers without the sickly tone.

"You actually want to go back?" Poniko asks, estranged by Monoe's reply.

"It's not that school's fun, it's because I don't want to have my grades suck because I would miss out on a test; should Sensei Oni be a bigger dick than usual by assigning pop quizzes." She says after loading up Vice City. "By the way, enjoy your tank. I didn't bring my save file over so I played solidly for hours to clear through missions. I'm getting sick of this game already."

"Poor girl… did you use cheats?" Poniko asked.

"Max health, armor, and weapon set 3 so I can clear through packs of goons quickly. I also spawned a tank for vehicle combat." She replies. She gets out of the chair so Poniko can play. She walks to her bed and climbs on top of it. Sprawling out and resting her head against a pillow, she looks over to see Poniko typing in the flying vehicles cheat and running over to a garage. She hears Poniko squeal excitedly as she sees the tank and gets inside of it.

"Enjoying yourself over there?" Monoe says as she relaxes. Poniko pulls out of the garage and aims the tank cannon barrel toward the back before driving onto the road whilst firing a constant barrage of blasts to increase her movement speed.

"Yes… very yes." She replies quickly as she pulls up and starts flying around. The sounds of her chuckles fill the air as she eventually dive bombs into a nearby car while Monoe rests her eyes; eager to make up for any sleep issues from her only five hour long rest during the night. Although she knows Monoko is in the living room and Poniko is playing with the computer, she can't help be feel as though something feels a little off.

"Poniko, have you noticed a strange person in a black cloak? She's been hanging around the hallway all day and I'm getting worried…" She says, concerned about the person she saw earlier today; standing outside of room 106, eyeing Monoe when she would attempt to leave the apartment room to check for new mail.

"I think I saw her as I knocked on the door. She doesn't seem like that much trouble." Poniko replies in an uncaring tone, more interested in the flying tank on the screen. Monoe opens her eyes and climbs off the bed while her gut makes noises. She rushes out of the room and to the bathroom; while Poniko soon pauses the game and lets curiosity take over, tempting her to go out of the apartment to see if the person is still there. She leaves the computer chair and walks out of bedroom. She first decides to look out the viewing piece of the door to see Madotsuki and Masada walk by with bags in their hands.

She opens the door and pokes her head out to see him put down his bags and fish in his pocket for the apartment key. He soon unlocks and opens the door so Madotsuki can go in while he gets his bearings and soon follows her. The crinkling of plastic is heard as he closes the door, just before Poniko looks around elsewhere to find the black cloaked person walking down the stairs in the distance. Her mask seems to have cracked slightly around the edges and her cloak looks more ragged and tattered than before.

Poniko walks back inside of the apartment and closes the door, hoping the person didn't see her, as she heads through the living room, passing Monoko, and into the kitchen. She opens the freezer and grabs a container of ice cream. She licks her lips as she closes the door and opens the silverware drawer for a spoon. She opens the ice cream container and scoops out a spoonful. Just as she puts the spoonful into her mouth and tastes the chocolate, she hears the bathroom door open and Monoe's footsteps towards the kitchen. She steps into the kitchen to see Poniko with the ice cream container in her hand and a spoon in her mouth.

"Aw… that was my ice cream!" She says before Poniko scoops another spoonful out and puts it into Monoe's mouth.

"Shut it and eat, you." Poniko says as Monoe tastes the ice cream. A little bit drips down her lip, causing Poniko to wipe her finger around Monoe's lip and stick it in her mouth. She feels Monoe's tongue wrap around her finger before she pulls it out, due to sheer disgust. She grimaces and rushes to the nearby sink to wash her finger while Monoe giggles playfully.

"You're cute and all… but, holy crap on a pita, that was disgusting…" Poniko says, scrubbing away.

"Thanks for the ice cream." Monoe says, smiling at her. Suddenly, door knocks are heard and Monoko, upon getting off the floor, walks to the door and opens it.

"Hi Mado!" Monoko says excitedly. Madotsuki walks in with a smile as the two enter the sisters' bedroom, eager to play with the new gamepads that Monoe got earlier today. Monoko sees that Vice City is still operating and shuts the program down.

Meanwhile, Masada sits back in a living room chair, enjoying a freshly brewed up of coffee and the newspaper. He starts to doze off, though, as he puts his drink on the end table next to his chair and sets the news paper down on the floor nearby. His head feels heavy as he closes his eyes and tries to relax. As he feels calm, cozy and ready to fall asleep; he whisks away to his dream world. He now sees himself as a little kid with his famicom, playing Metroid on an early 1980's television set. The setting was just like the house he was raised in during childhood; with the light cream walls and fuzzy carpet. He is currently in the middle of finding his way to norfair. As he approaches the downward elevator, his father walks into the room.

"Komuro, turn off the game and turn on the news channel. Something big is going on!" He says anxiously. While unhappy with the demand, he turns it off without question and sets the television back to accepting television broadcast signals.

"-fire continues to be exchanged between the police and the two robbers that are currently outside the bank right now. According to pedestrians that walked out of the area before they stormed the building, four originally went inside. We believe that the other two robbers inside are keeping hostages and occasionally rotating with one of the outside robbers when in need of reloading weapons." A news reporter says into a camera.

"Is mom in there?" He asks in a frightened tone.

"I would hate to think so, but she hasn't been home for thirty minutes. I'm just as worried as you are." His father replies, with his voice dripping in panic.

"This can't be happening… this can't be happening…" He thinks before jolting awake. His face struck with panic as beads of sweat form. After a moment, he gets up and walks to the kitchen. He sees the clock that reads 5:34pm.

"Not even in my own dreams can I find sanctuary." He thinks as he sits at the table. "I wonder how life would be, had I never met Urotsuki? At the very least, I wouldn't know any better so it wouldn't hurt as bad when looking back at things from my childhood."

Instantly, he hears knocking at the door. He sighs as he gets up from his table chair and walks to the door. He sees the black cloaked person with the plague doctor mask briefly through the viewing piece and opens the door.

"Is there something I can help you with, miss?" He asks in a monotone voice.

"Is Madotsuki home?" She asks.

"No she isn't." He replies in the same tone as before. She digs through her pocket and hands him a USB flash drive.

"Load it up on a computer and read the text file it has." She says before walking away. He stares at her before closing the door with the flash drive in his hand. With nothing else to do at the moment, he opens his briefcase and takes out his laptop. He unfolds it and presses the power button. He sits at the kitchen table and places the computer on it, curious to see the contents of the flash drive's text file.


	22. Chapter 21: Friday Blues

Chapter 21: Friday Blues

Madotsuki exits the sisters' bedroom and walks out of the apartment after saying goodbye to Monoko one last time. A smile remains on her face as she closes the door and starts walking to room 116, eager to eat dinner soon. Her stomach growls when she approaches the door and places her hand on the metal knob. She opens the door and finds Masada asleep at the kitchen table, head on his arms with his laptop on the table. Although without the power on, it is still unfolded as though he were using it a while ago.

She gently shakes his shoulder to wake him up, but she doesn't get a reaction after trying a various amount of times. Eventually, she gives up as she walks into the kitchen; only to hear the phone ring. At first she assumes it to be Monoko or any of her other friends, but then sees the caller ID spell out nothing but an incomprehensible series of 3's. She looks into the phone with a paranoid glance, not knowing what to expect.

For the next several seconds, nothing but a high pitched tone plays. Although the sound begins to wear away at her nerves, she looks behind and gasps. The ghostly image of the gray suited man stands from the couch as she backs into the kitchen, terrified for her life. The image slowly floats toward her, turning ever so slightly when entering the kitchen. She cowers while it gets closer until it suddenly vanishes as the tone stops. Madotsuki sighs heavily with relief as the machine beeps when it finishes processing the message. She hears Masada slowly come to life and walks out of the kitchen to see him waking up.

"Hi, Sensei." She greets him. He softly smiles before folding up his computer and getting out of the chair with it in his hands. He walks to his briefcase and puts his computer in it before closing it shut. She meanders toward him, ready to ask him something.

"What are we going to eat for dinner?" She asks as her stomach growls audibly.

"Let's check the inventory." He replies as he heads to the kitchen with an equally empty stomach. He soon opens the pantry and eyes the collection of goods he has. He grabs a box of spaghetti noodles and a jar of tomato sauce.

"Guess what? We're going to eat something a bit different tonight." He says as he places the jar on the counter and opens up the box of noodles. Madotsuki briefly looks at the noodles oddly as he opens a bottom cupboard and reaches for a big pot.

"What are we going to eat for dinner?" She asks less enthusiastically, not interested in guessing.

"We're going to eat spaghetti tonight." He replies as he fills the pot with water. He turns the knob and ceases water flow while going back to the cupboard for a smaller pot. "Do you like tomato sauce?"

She nods before he opens the sauce jar and pours the sauce into the smaller pot. After putting the smaller pot on a burner and setting the burner to low, he rushes to the big pot full of water and places it on another burner. He sets it to high as she walks out of the kitchen, bored of watching Masada cook, and walks to the living room chair. She positions herself in the chair and leans her head slightly to the left.

She lets out a soft yawn before closing her eyes. A moment passes before she finally falls asleep and enters the dream world. When she comes to, she sees a hallway to the west. She searches through her pockets and finds a blue capsule. She smirks as she presses the button and throws it against the ground, spawning a bicycle. She climbs up the bike and pedals down the hallway before making a left towards a group of beds.

"Seems the beds are multiplying…" She thinks before seeing a toriningen's shadow come in sight from a corner. She climbs off her bike and grips her knife carefully while quietly stalking. She pokes her head around the wall to see a familiar toriningen standing about, occasionally monitoring the beds with distrust. She edges carefully towards the toriningen with her knife prepared, when the toriningen turns around.

"Mado?" It asks curiously as Madotsuki remembers who she is. "How are you doing today?"

"I'm doing okay. What's with the blood coming from the wall?" She asks, passing the toriningen and looking at the bloody wall and floor.

"All I'm allowed to say is: Don't touch it." The toriningen replies with a tone of disgust. Madotsuki approaches the blood and, upon touching it, feels like she is being warped to a new world. She looks around the new world's purple ground and occasional wardrobe in sight before a high pitched scream is heard.

Toriningen, all of them wearing similar clothes, start lumbering towards her from seemingly nowhere. She tries to run, but soon runs out of energy. Her sense of fear continues to grow as she tries to maintain suitable speed, but feels one of them grab her arm and hold her still. They all let out sinister laughs as they throw her against the ground and sniff around her. Some of their beaks open as they salivate over their new captive.

Eventually, she rises from the ground with force and is guided to a guillotine. She feels a toriningen shove her, causing her to trip and land her neck on the lock of the guillotine. After her wrists are also secured, she hears a loud scream as one of them holds the rope the blade is held onto. As her face displays misery, a round of laughter is heard and the person holding the rope lets go. It slices through Madotsuki's neck and causes her head to tumble over. The last few moments she witnesses are the toriningen ripping open her now decapitated body and someone picking up her head. The lack of oxygen coming in takes its toll on her until she finally awakens, quivering and scared.

Her initial panic passes after sniffing the air to smell slowly heated tomato sauce. She slowly gets out of the chair and walks to the kitchen. Her interest in the sauce increases as she approaches the pot and looks into it. The sauce bubbles occasionally while it heats. She hears Masada enter the kitchen and steps out of the way for him to stir the sauce with a nearby spoon.

"It's about done. Now, let me drain these noodles and then you can help me with setting the table." He says.

Moments later, after everything is taken care of; He sits down with her and scoops some sauce onto his plate of noodles. He sees Madotsuki try out the noodles with sauce before practically devouring her plateful before he manages to eat half of his. She hops off the chair with her things and, before heading to the kitchen, stops in her tracks near him.

"Thanks for the dinner, Sensei." She says to him whilst nuzzling against his face. He smiles before returning to his meal as she walks to the kitchen

"She's done with her serving before I made too big of a dent in mine… must be a growth spurt." He thinks before putting another forkful of pasta into his mouth. "Truth be told, this stuff is pretty good."

He soon finishes his meal and gets up to put his dinnerware into the dishwasher. As he opens the door and puts his dish, fork and glass in, Madotsuki turns toward him with interrogative intent.

"Sensei, it's Friday night. What do you plan on doing?" She asks him as he takes her dinnerware and places the pieces into the dishwasher.

"I suppose I could play a number or two before I watch television or something." He replies after closing the door and walking into the living room. He sits at the piano and flexes his fingers before beginning a slow paced, soothing melody. She walks to her seat and listens deeply. She closes her eyes after a moment and dozes off to sleep.

Elsewhere, as Poniko walks down the stairway and heads to Monoe's apartment door; she hears footsteps behind her. She turns around to find the masked girl also heading down the stairway and making a right turn to the exit. Just as the person starts to feel awkward from Poniko's stare, she starts sprinting out of the area; accidentally dropping a flash drive. Poniko rushes to where the flash drive dropped to and picks it up.

She tries to get the person's attention, but realizes it was too late. She puts the flash drive into her pocket and continues to Monoe's apartment door. She knocks on the door while still weirded out by the person. Soon, the door opens and reveals Monoe wearing her white shirt and black skirt. Poniko's estranged expression makes her uncomfortable as she lets Poniko in.

"What's gotten you all bothered?" She asks. "You look like you saw a ghost."

"The weird girl with the mask went by me and accidentally dropped a flash drive when running toward the building exit. I swear she looked like she was hiding something." Poniko replies as the two enter the sisters' bedroom and plug in the flash drive into a USB slot. The computer makes its usual noises before displaying a video file. Monoe presses play and watches intently with Poniko. The video shows a shadow person lumbering in the distance towards the camera in a dim hallway while the audio starts off quiet, but later getting louder as Poniko hears her name occasionally being chanted.

After twenty seconds have passed, the shadow person stops in its tracks and the audio ceases. Very brief and inconsistent periods of static are heard as the shadow person slowly continues lumbering. Monoe looks in confusion while Poniko stares with growing paranoia. A few seconds pass until the shadow person stops again, this time staying put.

"This is creepy. I'm closing this." Monoe says as she clicks the X button, but the shadow person starts moving again; this time at a quicker pace. She keeps pressing the X button, but nothing seems to change.

"What the- NO!" She yells frantically as she switches to her task manager program and right clicks the process. The video file stops completely as she selects 'End Task', but the audio sounds as though it was permanently stuck mid chant.

"Oh for the love of…" She mutters as she presses the restart button on her computer. She holds her head into her hands as she lets out a painful groan. "Poniko, if this was a prank of yours; I will seriously hurt you."

"I'm not screwing around with you! Honest!" Poniko responds, knowing how upset Monoe is. A while passes until the starting screen comes up when Monoe guides Poniko to look away as she inputs her password. The log in was successful and the desktop loads up with the usual quick speed.

"I'm still going to scan this thing. If something like that can just outright ignore the close button, then I have a good feeling something is horribly wrong here." Monoe says, pulling up her anti virus and spyware program and setting it to 'Full system scan'.

"You can have fun with that. I'm going to the kitchen to fetch myself a drink." Poniko says, still weirded out by the video file. She shudders one last time before exiting the room and walks towards the kitchen. She passes by Monoko, who looks nervously at Poniko.

"Poniko, did something happen? I almost never hear Monoe yell like that." She asks, frightened slightly.

"Your sister stumbled upon something we should have left alone." Poniko replies, not wanting to get into too much detail; knowing how innocent Monoko is. She walks into the kitchen and opens the fridge, already at a loss which kind of drink she wants. A moment passes before she shrugs her shoulders and grabs a can of cherry soda before closing the door. She opens the can carefully and takes a very refreshing sip.

"Nothing helps down weird shit like a smooth fruity soda…" Poniko thinks as she heads out of the kitchen and towards the sisters' bedroom, once again passing Monoko as she plays videogames on the living room television. She enters the bedroom and puts her soda down on a solid surface on the ground before cupping her hands on Monoe's chest. Confusion brews as Poniko snuggles the top of Monoe's head softly.

"This certainly isn't awkward at all…" Monoe remarks sarcastically.

"Aw come on! Lighten up!" Poniko says in a light hearted tone. "Should I be as serious and nerdy as you, we would be arguing over trivial crap the whole night."

Monoe rolls her eyes as Poniko lets go and grabs her drink from off the floor. She then gets onto Monoe's bed and sips away at the drink, appreciating the cherry flavor. Monoko enters the room and climbs up on her bed before staring at Poniko.

"Hi Poniko." She greets her.

"Hey yourself; I'm going back upstairs. Monoe, message me the instant I'm online so we can play around with things." Poniko says before hopping off the bed and walking out of the room, eventually leaving the apartment. Monoko turns to Monoe, who stares at her computer screen as she brings up her instant messaging software.

"I wonder what Mado is up to." Monoko asks.

"She's probably enjoying herself. After all, who wouldn't on a Friday like this?" Monoe replies in a carefree tone.

Meanwhile, Madotsuki rests on Masada's bed, curled up with her head propped on a pillow as Masada himself watches television. She envisions herself seeing the outside of the apartment building at night time. The few stars in the night sky are almost impossible to see, thanks to the street lights in the parking lot and on the sidewalk. The sounds of passing vehicles fill the air along with the smell of the moist air after a recent precipitation.

Although not usually interested in the town, the scenery feels as though it has a magical charm when the sun falls as Madotsuki walks down the sidewalk next to the main road. A moment of traveling goes by as she comes across Yume Tabemono, the diner from yesterday morning, and decides to enter the building. She sees the black walls, red stool seats, and the wooden counter; being under control of a toriningen.

"Greetings. How may I serve you?" It asks politely, shocking Madotsuki from the sight of a second polite toriningen in her dreams.

"I- uh, want to see a menu." She nervously asks before being handed a small menu. The toriningen smiles gently as she opens it to find a normal selection. She then puts down the menu and grabs the toriningen's attention immediately.

"Waffles." She says calmly. The toriningen walks into a back room and the sounds of pots beating against each is heard for a brief moment before the sound stops. She looks around and analyzes the various items hanging from the wall: Newspaper trimmings that date as far back as 1971 directly to her right, a dart board to her left just over the counter with the typical red and black colors, a red neon sign behind her that reads 'Heiwa', and a clock in front of her behind the counter.

Despite such a strange place, she feels at ease from the atmosphere of the diner; almost relaxed as she smells waffles being cooked and starts salivating. She hears the door open behind her and turns round to see Monoe without her usual friendly smile; instead with a blank expression as she walks to a stool and takes a seat.

"Monoe, what are you doing here?" Madotsuki asks.

"I sometimes come here, mainly to get away from people. It's like a second home to me." She replies, looking deeply into the counter, trying to piece together some faint pictures from the grains in the polished wood. Madotsuki looks at her as the toriningen comes out with a plate of waffles and a fork. She places the items at Madotsuki's place on the counter and quickly rushes to a mini fridge under the counter. She opens it and grabs a milk carton. She fills up a glass before putting the carton back in the fridge, closing the door and giving Madotsuki the glass of milk.

Before she can grab the fork and begin eating, the dream world starts to fade out of place. Soon, she jolts awake to find the clock reading 9:08pm. Masada continues to sit on the bed as he looks at her and gives her scalp a small scuffing. She smiles as she hops off the bed and gets her pajamas before walking into the bathroom. Masada just sits still with his eyes glued to the television as the door closes and soon the sound of running water is heard.

Elsewhere, inside room 308, a figure sleeps sprawled out on a worn out couch from decades ago. Her clothes start to look worn after several days of use solidly. Her hair, still unwashed after days without proper bathing, begins to look dirty. Although she sleeps, she occasionally mutters something outside of the dream world every couple hours.

"…I must stop it. Even if it costs my life…" She softly utters as she continues to rest peacefully.


	23. Chapter 22: Exposure

Chapter 22: Exposure

Masada closes the bedroom door softly and casually walks into the living room before entering the kitchen. He approaches the fridge and opens its door, looking at all the choices he has for a night time drink. After a moment of choosing, he grabs a wine bottle from the bottom shelf and closes the fridge door. The bottle clinks as he places it on the counter and gets a glass from a nearby cupboard.

"A little something to enhance the night would be nice." He thinks as he opens the bottle and fills the glass three-quarters full. "After all, it's only 11pm."

He closes the bottle and opens the fridge. He quickly puts the bottle back in the fridge before closing the door and sipping the glass of wine. As he walks out of the kitchen, he hears scuffing at the door. Curious by the sound, he approaches the door and looks through the viewing piece, but doesn't see anything. The scuffing still continues, despite nothing visible. He finally sighs and opens the door to find nothing.

He stands by in confusion before seeing a note on the floor. He kneels down to pick up the letter and reads it silently.

"I see you." He reads from the letter. He gets up immediately and looks around nervously. He hasn't felt this paranoid of possible stalkers since his adventures with Urotsuki over ten years ago. He gets back inside the apartment to close and lock the door shut. He walks back to the kitchen for his glass of wine, feeling a bit thirsty. He takes a sip and carries his glass with him as he walks to the chair in the living room. Despite the alcohol, he still feels a little jumpy as he tries to relax in the chair.

"Never thought I would get so worked up about a stupid letter I found." He thinks before chuckling to himself. "It's probably just a prank that Poniko might be pulling on me."

After half an hour passes, he finishes his glass of wine whilst reading a book at his chair. He puts his bookmark in position and places the book on the end table nearby before getting up. He walks to the kitchen and places his glass into the sink. As he slowly lumbers his way towards the bedroom, he knows he doesn't want to wake up Madotsuki. He carefully opens the door, making the least amount of noise he can, and quietly strolls to the bathroom door. He closes the bathroom door and turns on the light.

He walks to the bathroom sink and takes his toothbrush from the nearby cup. Upon running some water through the bristles and squeezing some toothpaste on top, he begins scrubbing away until he's sure it has been a minute. As he spits out his toothpaste, he hears something splashing about in the toilet nearby. He quickly walks to the toilet and lifts up the lid to see nothing is there.

"I think I'm going crazy. I need some sleep." He thinks as he heads back to the sink to get some water. Cupping his hands after turning the cold water knob on, he holds some water and slurps some before swishing for a moment and spitting out the water. He turns the knob off and dries his hands off with a close at hand towel. He walks out of the bathroom after turning off the lights, save for a night light near the mirror; and walks around his bed before climbing up. He pulls the covers over himself as he closes his eyes.

Elsewhere, on the third floor of the building; room 308 opens and a black cloaked girl with a mask walks out and heads to the stairway to her right. She yawns softly as she walks down the steps, only being awake because of the bright lights that illuminate various hallways and the stairway. She walks out on to the first floor and strolls down the hallway before stopping at room 105. In the girl's hand lies a pink sticky note.

She places the note onto the door and pounds on it twice before leaving. Twelve seconds later, a tired Monoe open the door and sees the note on the other side. She grabs the note and walks back into the apartment shortly prior to closing the door. Although her curiosity about the note is great, her eyes burn too much for her to spend any time attempting to read it. She simply places it on the table next to her and gets back into her bed. Meanwhile, the cloaked and masked girl walks out of the building and heads to a simple motorcycle.

Its minimalistic design and lack of features aside from a single headlight remind the girl of a motor cycle she would ride in her dreams. Nevertheless, she hopped on it and turned the key to start the engine. She slowly backs from her parking spot and begins accelerating towards the exit, where she makes a right turn and begins her noisy speed ramp up. Monoe, annoyed by the noise the girl on the bike made, tries in vain to cover her head with a pillow to help protect her ears.

"I hate motorcycles." She thinks for a moment before the noise is gone. She finally lets go of the pillow and rests her head on it, trying to get back to sleep. Meanwhile; hours pass until the morning arrives with a barrage of dark gray clouds, each bearing a hint towards afternoon or evening rain. Madotsuki slowly awakens from the bed, noticing that Masada is gone. She looks to her left and sees the clock read 7:30am. After letting out a quick yawn, she gets out of the bed and walks to her clothes in the nearby open suitcase, only to realize she is down to her last two clean clothing sets. She takes a set and, after determining it to be safe enough to dress in the room, begins switching out of her pajamas.

As she prepares to put on her panties, she hears knocking at the door.

"Madotsuki, are you up yet?" She hears Masada say through the door.

"I'm just getting dressed, Sensei!" She replies after she pulls them up.

"I'm making breakfast. Care to have some waffles with me?" He asks

"Sure." She says only to hear footsteps leading away. She takes off her pajama shirt and puts on her bra. She pushes her head through the hole in her pink shirt and pulls up a skirt. While braiding her hair, she smells the scent of heated waffles through the closed door and quickly becomes distracted. After a few minutes of frantically braiding, she rushes into the nearby bathroom to see both braids look normal, much to her surprise.

She exits the bathroom and walks out of the bedroom into the hallway towards the kitchen. Now the scent of microwaved syrup fills the air along with the waffles, making it difficult to cease salivating. She approaches the table to notice the syrup bottle in the center with two plates, two forks, and two napkins at their respective places. She enters the kitchen and sees Masada getting two glasses from a cupboard nearby. He stops in his tracks and smiles at her before heading to the table with them. She decides to help him by walking to the fridge and opening it to grab the unsealed milk jug. She closes the door and carries the jug to the table to fill her glass.

"Well, thanks for speeding this up a little." He says, pleasantly surprised by her act. She walks back to the fridge and puts the jug back where she found it. After she gets to her spot at the table and waits for Masada to be ready, they begin eating. She licks her lips as she receives two big waffles. She grabs the syrup bottle and squeezes out a more-than-generous amount on top.

"So Sensei…" She asks while cutting off a piece of the waffle stack, "What kind of fun did you and Urotsuki have?"

"At first, we mostly hung out at the park together or maybe watch a movie; but then we got involved in various cases of tomfoolery, such as trying to find a rumored box of yen in the sewers and exploring the factory that was shut down years ago." He replies prior to putting some waffle into his mouth.

He swallows and continues, "However, she became strangely close to me on April 22th; when she said that, a few days from now, she will need to leave town. I asked her why and she told me, 'Someone I care for is in grave danger'. I didn't argue with her, but I was shocked to find her gone so suddenly when I woke up early in the morning. The night before she left, however, was interesting enough to keep me remembering even after ten long years."

"Did she say who she was going after?" She asks before sipping her milk glass.

"She never did. It seemed as though I wasn't supposed to know who." He says, looking back on things. "The only thought that remains in my conscience is: Did she succeed in what she wanted to do?"

The two silently continue eating until their plates are empty. They both get up from the table with their dinnerware and walk to the sink to leave it there. Madotsuki lets out a belch, only to be greeted by a belch from Masada. They both chuckle as she exits the kitchen, leaving him to the dishes. She walks to the bedroom, then the bathroom and grabs her toothbrush. Whilst brushing her teeth to rid herself of the tooth rotting syrup, she hears the kitchen phone ring faintly.

After a moment, she spits out her toothpaste and rinses her mouth with some water. She exits the bathroom, feeling fresh, and hears Masada talking from the kitchen.

"She's been doing fine, sir." He says as she approaches him. "Nothing wrong has happened at all, to tell you the truth."

She leans toward him as he continues. "I'm glad to hear that you are having a fun time with… no sir, I would expect nothing like that to happen."

He sets a glass down on the table whilst he listens to him before replying, "We mainly go to bed at 8:30 to 9:00pm and get up around 5:30am. On the weekend, she will be staying up until about 9:30 or 10:00pm."

Bored by the phone conversation, she walks to the nearby chair and sits in it. She closes her eyes and gently relaxes herself before feeling the whisk happen. Her eyes open to find that she is in a dark room with some ladders up ahead. She looks around and sees static occasionally fill the sky. Deciding that she must go forward, she does so and later finds herself outside of a cave with a tribal man to her right.

She walks up to him and greets, "H-hi?"

He turns around and speaks out five numbers in monotone, "nine, two, two, nine, zero."

She raises her eyebrow and walks away to the south to exit the stony area, only to see herself on a big island. The purple water surrounding the island, combined with the red volcanic mountains and the brown pathways on the darker toned dirt begin to unsettle her. She wanders south while hugging the shoreline to the west before walking around more volcanic mountains and piles of lava. As she continues to the south, she soon reaches an inward curve of the coastline before she looks to her left to find a bridge just a small distance away.

She crosses the bridge to find building ruins behind more volcanic mountains. She enters the ruins and sees more tribal men around, most likely going to reply with a series of numbers just like the first one. Before contemplating her next action, she feels someone tap her shoulder from behind. She turns around to find Monoko, happily standing by with her happy face.

"Hi Mado!" She greets with a cheerful demeanor.

"Hey Monoko." Madotsuki greets, still curious about the ruins.

"Mado, have you heard about 'The Bug'?" She asks.

"No, I haven't. What is 'The Bug'?" Madotsuki asks.

"Rumor has it that if you touch a certain wall in one of the rooms below, you will feel stuck in place and hear indecipherable voices speaking. That's all I heard about regarding it." Monoko explains as a portal begins spawning behind Madotsuki. She turns around and looks at the portal with Monoko. Blue and purple ripples form from the center and spread outward until they reach the ends of the portal.

"Should we go in?" Monoko asks.

"Why not?" Madotsuki replies as she charges in. Monoko soon follows as the two materialize on a snowy island. Great big gray stone pillars placed circularly around the island while a long haired woman stands several yards in font of them, facing away from them. Gusts of wind blow through the area, making the two girls shiver and quake. The woman turns around with her eyes open, staring at the two as she silently steps to them. Each step taken seems to make the area colder as Madotsuki's nose begins to start turning redder by the second.

"Wait a second! She's Yuki-onna, the snow woman!" Monoko cries out as Madotsuki returns a stare at the woman. Yuki-onna stops a foot from Madotsuki and touches her shoulder softly, sending chills down her spine. It felt like reaching for something in the freezer, only this time it wasn't just her arm being cold. Seconds pass until Madotsuki's nerves feel so cold, she can't feel Yuki-onna beginning to dig into her shoulder. She tries to move, but her body is paralyzed. She can only watch in horror as Yuki-onna continues tearing away at her. Just then, a surge of pain strikes through her body and shocks her awake.

Upon rubbing her eyes as she rises groggily from the chair, she walks toward the apartment door. As she opens the door and walks to Monoe's apartment, she sees the masked person run up the stairway; leaving spots of blood on the steps while groaning in pain and clutching her arm. Only three seconds later, she sees the gray suited man casually stroll from the building entrance toward the stairway, whistling a merry tune.

She stands still, getting a bad feeling of what may soon happen, before she shrugs her shoulders and continues toward Monoe's apartment. She reaches the door after a moment and knocks before being greeted by Monoko in her light blue pajamas and lack of black tails. As she enters the apartment, she sees Monoe and Poniko through the open bedroom doorway, predictably at the computer.

"Monoe, we need to talk." Poniko says.

"What should we talk about?" Monoe replies, not looking away from the monitor.

"You do know that we have been good friends for many years, since elementary school I believe?" Poniko asks.

"That is true." Monoe answers.

"Well… since middle school, I've always-" Poniko continues until she hears a fire alarm. "Oh damn it!"

The two girls exit the room and leave the apartment with Monoko and Madotsuki. They soon depart the building and begin waiting for the fire department. Sensei Masada joins up with them after a minute.

"H-hey, Sensei! Lovely weekend, eh?" Poniko says. He sighs before turning to her.

"I was in the middle of cleaning up my bathroom when the alarm started." He says. "What were you two doing this morning before getting forced out by the alarm?"

"Pretty much, our morning consisted of dicking around on the internet as usual. Also, Poniko, would you like to continue what you were going to say, or did you forget?" Monoe asks after turning towards her.

"I, er… forgot." She says, lying through her teeth.

"How long does this usually take?" Monoko asks. "It's been years since I had to sit out here because of the fire alarm."

"About ten to fifteen minutes, not counting any actual fires going on." Monoe replies before looking at the ground. Madotsuki sits down near the three girls and their teacher as she wraps her arms around her legs. She closes her eyes and begins sleeping while Poniko takes out an MP3 player. Monoe looks at Poniko before faintly hearing metal being played through the speakers.

"HammerFall, I assume?" Monoe asks. Poniko nods while Masada catches a glimpse of the song.

"That song… Hearts on Fire, I believe? I swear I heard that on a flash drive just a few hours after Urotsuki left…" Masada says.

"Sensei, the song wasn't made until at least 2002." Poniko replies.

"Plus, the flash drive you said was from back then had upwards to six gigabytes of storage capability… something is definitely wrong here." Monoe says, raising her eyebrow slightly.

"Yeah, that did seem extremely odd. Oh well, not much we can do until they say it's safe enough to head back in." Masada replies, looking into the grey sky above. Time passes until the fire men exit the building, saying that someone pulled the fire alarm either as a prank or as a way of clearing people out of the building for some reason.

"Who would pull the stupid thing outside of an emergency?" Poniko furiously asks.

"I don't know… at least it's over so we can all go back in." Monoe says. Monoko follows the two girls back into the building while Masada gently wakes up Madotsuki by shaking her shoulder. She opens her eyes slowly and lets out a soft yawn before getting up off the ground and walking back towards the building as well with Masada. He checks his watch and sees it read 9:00am before playfully scratching her scalp.

They enter the building and as progress towards their right turn, Madotsuki stops and looks at the stairway to see the spots of blood on the stairway steps. She breaks free of the sight and runs to Masada to catch up to him just a moment before he unlocks his apartment door. They both soon go into the apartment and close the door.

Madotsuki and Masada walk into the bedroom and climb up on the bed. He props a pillow up for her and turns on the nearby lamp before grabbing the book on the end table. She rests her head on the pillow, eager to sleep somewhere that isn't the chilly outside. Elsewhere, Monoe sits in her computer chair as Poniko, who is sitting on the bed, holds a sticky note on her palm.

"Monoe, what's with the pink sticky note? It says, '3-11-09'?" Poniko asks.

"I honestly don't know. It could be some distant event that someone is planning." Monoe answers, becoming less willing to reply as she continues playing with settings on her computer.

"It also has '3-12-09' on the other side as well." Poniko continues, confused by the two random dates. "Whoever gave this to you must be planning something big on those dates."

Monoe and Poniko carry on while Monoko walks into the kitchen. She sees the cupboard and opens it, only to be saddened by the lack of bagels. However, she instead sees a bag of bread and takes it out before closing the cupboard door. She opens the bag and takes out two slices. She starts to drool as she puts the two slices into a toaster nearby and pulls down the tap. Her stomach growls while she walks over to the table and sits at one of the nearby chairs.


	24. Chapter 23: Just a whimper

Chapter 23: Just a whimper

Madotsuki awakens gracefully and lets out a yawn before looking around the bedroom whilst scratching her back. Her hunger seems to have only gotten more demanding as she not only feels very empty, but hears an audible grumble from her stomach. Nevertheless, she hops off the bed and walks out of the room, into the hallway. As she heads to the living room and kitchen area, she feels an object rolling down her leg. Initially, she flinched before discovering the object to be a coin.

"I don't believe I have enough strange coins that spawn in my pocket when I sleep." She thinks as she looks at the coin. Suddenly, she realizes it's only a 100 yen coin and holds onto it happily, feeling a bit relieved it wasn't another hint to something weird going on. She walks into the kitchen and sees a note on the microwave.

"Don't eat lunch. I'm bringing home something for you to eat when I get back around twelve." She reads from the note. She looks over to the nearby clock that reads 12:03am before walking to the fridge. Upon opening the door, she sees a spray can of whipped cream and grabs it. She deviously looks around herself before closing the door and taking off the cap. She points the nozzle into her mouth and tips it slightly before feeling the whipped cream squirt into her mouth. She stops out a second and closes her mouth, barely able to keep it all in at once.

A few seconds pass before she swallows the load of cream completely and licks around her lips to get any left over. She opens the fridge door and puts the whipped cream can back before closing the door. As delicious the whipped cream is, it certainly didn't sate her hunger as she hears another growl. She attempts to walk to her usual chair she sits in to take a nap, only to hear faint footsteps from outside the apartment. She stops in place before hearing the apartment door's locking mechanism open and watching the door knob turn.

The door opens, revealing Masada with a bag of food in his left hand and his ring of keys in the other. He closes the door and strolls to the kitchen with Madotsuki, putting the bag of food onto the table. She grabs a small box from the bag and opens it to find a small fish sandwich. After taking a small bite of the sandwich, she smiles happily as she enjoys finishing the sandwich. Masada takes a box from the bag and opens it to find a fish sandwich similar to hers, except noticeably bigger in size.

"Thanks for the sandwich, Sensei." She says before hugging him and walking away to the bedroom. She shuts the door upon entering the bedroom and climbs up on the bed before resting her head against the nearby pillow. While staring into the ceiling, she gradually begins sealing her eyes as time passes. Eventually, her eye lids close and she soon feels the whisk happen. When she comes to, Madotsuki finds herself outside of Oni's room. Preparing for anything he might pull, she equips her knife and slowly approaches the door.

It suddenly hits her as she remembers not only may Masada not be there for her this time, but she is also out gunned as she remembers him having a powerful 6-shot magnum in his possession. She rests her hand on the door knob and slowly turns it, hoping he won't pay attention. She, then, pushes the door open slightly to look inside; only to find nobody there. Still being ever so cautious, she continues to gently push the door open all the way before stepping inside. The room's temperature feels lower than the other room as she walks all the way inside before seeing papers on the ground. She picks them up and starts analyzing them carefully.

"10-22-08: It has been several days since my last contact with the pony tail girl. At first, I tried to call her about the child with the brown tails and Masada; but the number she gave me didn't even give me a dialing tone. I feel as though something weird is going on and I don't like this one bit." She silently reads from the first paper.

"10-23-08: Nothing said by anyone can keep my mind off the prospect of being stalked by someone. Just a few hours before nightfall, I saw a silhouette of a guy with a hat standing outside my door as though he were trying to look in the impossible to see through glass. I don't think he's a regular here, so I'm keeping an extra tight grip on my six-shooter, incase he starts some shit."

"10-24-08: Everybody thinks I've gone mad. I'm not mad; I'm just the only sane person down here. If I even see someone holding my notes, I'll not hesitate to blast them. Even the cutest and most adorable person in the world is fair game at this point. The toriningen have also been pestering me nonstop, so I might just get some target practice in tomorrow, even if I don't find anything else wrong going on. Here's to hoping that strange hat man doesn't show up around here, or else things are going to get ugly."

"I think that Oni may also be getting harassed by the gray suited man as well." She thinks. "I still don't trust him at all, though; especially after what he did."

She hears someone fiddling with the door knob behind her and quickly drops the papers before hiding behind a pyramid in the room. The door opens and Poniko walks in with a nervous look on her face. She sees the papers on the floor and picks them up. A moment passes before she puts them back on the ground and sighs.

"That guy is a fucking lunatic." She remarks. Madotsuki creeps out slowly from the pyramid and quietly sneaks to Poniko. She instantly looks behind to find Madotsuki crouching and rolls her eyes.

"I'm surprised you bothered to try stealth. You do get points for the knife, though." Poniko comments as Madotsuki gets up and sheathes her weapon. "But seriously, what are you doing here, Mado?"

"I just found myself outside this room and I went inside, expecting Oni to be here." She replies.

"I wonder where he is." Poniko ponders before an air ventilator hatch opens with Oni's lifeless body falling from above, along with his revolver. Poniko walks to the body and looks at it with a confused expression before taking the weapon. She opens the weapon's cylinder and checks it to find six bullets are already in place before closing the cylinder. Madotsuki inspects the body and finds a piece of his neck has been bit off, where the jugular vein once was.

"Poniko, I don't think it was the gray suited man that got him…" She says as Poniko continues to examine her newly obtained weapon.

"Oh right, the body… yeah, we better get out of here before we're next." Poniko says as the two head for the door. They walk out of the room and begin moving up the stairs, carefully checking around for any suspicious activity while progressing. Minutes go by before the two reach the top room and soon exit the building to see the dark grey sky.

"Poniko, what do you think got Sensei Oni? A part of his neck is missing." Madotsuki asks, still disgusted by the body she saw fall from above.

"I think I know who… but her behavior is not very consistent. Some times, she is her normal happy-go-lucky self; while other times, she's a blood thirsty monster." Poniko answers. She looks at her gun and smoothly feels the barrel, admiring how shiny and clean it is. As the two look around the house, they hear thunder and immediately walk back inside the building as rain drops begin to fall. Madotsuki looks at her expectantly, curious of what they should do next.

"What are you looking at me for?" She asks.

"Where else should we go?" Madotsuki asks.

"I don't fucking know!" Poniko replies in a very frustrated tone. The two girls sit down, resting against the wall. "All I want is to see Monoe again."

Madotsuki looks to her left to see Poniko breaking down. Her eyes water slightly as she fishes through her pocket and takes out a picture of her.

"If only you were here to help me…" she says before looking at the weapon in her hands. As she puts the weapon's barrel into her mouth, Madotsuki gasps and tries to take it out. She tries to pull the trigger, but something in the room catches her eyes: Monoe in a flowery white dress walking towards the two with closed eye lids, with a slight smile.

"Monoe…?" She says as she takes the gun from her mouth and gets up to meet up with Monoe. She hugs Poniko before Madotsuki's vision suddenly turns dark green. The color change mystifies her greatly before she sees the gray suited man floating behind Monoe with strings in his hand attached to her back and arms. The man smirks before her vision changes back to normal and Monoe looks at her with bewilderment.

"Is something wrong, Madotsuki?" She asks with concern.

"N-nothing is wrong, honestly!" Madotsuki replies quickly. The thought of Monoe being controlled by the gray suited man bothers her severely and makes her wonder if what she saw was either the truth or just the gray suited man messing around with her. Regardless, she joins up with the two girls and looks around cautiously to make sure nothing is happening behind her.

The three girls walk down the stairs, talking and enjoying the company of each other. They soon walk down to Oni's room and open the door to find Monoko sitting near Oni's corpse with blood around her mouth. Her appearance resembles her form after being exposed to the flashlight trinket as she continues gnawing on his right arm, ripping the flesh from bone. Poniko and Madotsuki look in horror at the display of cannibalism while Monoe tries to keep herself from throwing up.

Monoko turns around after picking up Monoe's gagging and gets up from her spot, leaving behind the half eaten arm. Her left eye's contents continue to drip as she starts to slowly approach the girls while Poniko equips the firearm. She points it at Monoko's face and steps back a little bit.

"G-get back!" She cries, hesitant to shoot. Monoko continues to lurch toward her until she finally fires off a few shots that hit Monoko directly in the forehead. However, she continues to move, despite her grievous wounds, and makes a leap to Poniko before viciously biting her neck. A yell is heard from Poniko as Monoko digs in and feasts on the blood spraying out.

Madotsuki and Monoe run out of the room and up the stairs as Monoko finishes off the last of the blood in Poniko's system and wanders out of the room. The two girls start slowing down as they reach the top of the stairs, despite fear running through their systems. Madotsuki's legs start to ache considerably as she stops to relax a little. Monoe sits down against the wall with her and shudders.

"Never before have I seen anything so revolting…" She says, still disgusted by Monoko.

"Do you think she'll go upstairs eventually?" Madotsuki asks.

"Maybe. I don't know what to expect. I don't even know how or why she is such a horrible creature." She replies. "Do you have any idea how she became who she is?"

"Sometimes, when I find a stop light shaped toy, I would press the button on it and she would start turning into a monster." Madotsuki answers. The sounds from where Monoko once was get quieter as she drags Poniko's corpse into Oni's room and slams the door shut. Madotsuki shuffles to Monoe and leans her head onto her shoulder. The floor briefly rumbles, causing her to get her head off of Monoe's shoulder, as pieces of the ceiling start falling down.

"Just when you thought it couldn't get worse…" Monoe mutters as she gets up and tries to leg it up the nearby stairway, only for part of the ceiling to collapse onto the stairway. She backs up and looks at Madotsuki, who is resting her head in her heads. Monoe looks shocked a portal starts spawning and rushes to Madotsuki to shake her. She gets up and looks at the portal as well and becomes curious as this portal is brown colored instead of the usual purple.

Monoe tries to stick her hand in the portal, only for her to reach her hand back quickly and yelp in pain. Madotsuki puts her hand in the portal and feels nothing strange. She turns to Monoe and waves goodbye to her before bravely walking into the portal and feeling a whooshing sensation overwhelm her completely. When she finally comes to after what feels like hours, she awakens and finds herself still in bed. She looks to her left and sees the clock read 3:43pm. As she hops out of the bed and approaches the doorway out, she feels something in her pocket that she doesn't remember having before.

To her dismay, she finds a strange iron coin with an engraving.

"Now that you're awake, hurry outside to the parking lot with a phone before it's too late!" She reads from the coin. Knowing how these things go, she rushes out of the room and runs to the kitchen to grab the phone. She then passes by a clueless Masada at the kitchen table before speeding out the apartment door, leaving him completely stumped. She continues down the hallway before making a left turn for the apartment building door.

She soon exits the building to find the masked and cloaked girl outside, near a motorcycle. She approaches the girl before seeing her suddenly turn around. The two awkwardly stare at each other before the person reaches a hand to her mask. She lightly grips the mask and removes it, revealing a smirking young face Madotsuki didn't quite expect.

"You just couldn't resist the coins, could you?" Urotsuki says with a small laugh. Madotsuki only stares with widened eyes at her, simultaneously confused and not sure what to believe anymore. While stepping back and turning around to run away, she hears a car coming. Urotsuki quickly pushes Madotsuki out of the way of the vehicle and roughly whacks against the front bumper before hitting the ground, coughing up blood.

Madotsuki stares at her and gets up on her legs while the driver gets out from the vehicle, not anticipating this as he adjusts his hat.

"Oh well, it got the job done anyway." He says as he gets back in his vehicle and reverses away while Urotsuki groans in pain. Madotsuki rushes to Urotsuki and holds her upright before tearing up.

"This… wasn't supposed to have happened…" Urotsuki says while blood drips from her mouth. "This wasn't supposed to have ended this way… unless I was doomed from the start…"

"Urotsuki, please… tell me, who were you trying to save?" Madotsuki asks softly.

"…Y-you…" She says with her last breath just before her eyes roll to the back of her head and her body slumps over. Madotsuki closes her eyes as the wind blows through the trees nearby. Just then, she opens her eyes when the building doors open from the inside and out comes Masada, even more confused from the sight of his student with a nearly-forgotten old friend.

He approaches Madotsuki and looks at Urotsuki's lifeless body before falling to his knees, feeling as though he is being punished for Monday. He seems as though he is not going to say anything. She passes him the phone and joins him as they walk back into the building, leaving the body behind. As they head back to their apartment room, they pass by Poniko and Monoe.

"Sensei, is something wrong?" Poniko asks, worried by his somber attitude.

"You're not usually this somber." Monoe states. He ignores the two and continues toward room 116. He opens the door and heads through to the kitchen to put the phone back. Madotsuki tugs his arm a bit to get his attention.

"I'm sorry you saw that, Sensei." She says in a sympathizing tone

"At least I know she can't ever return…" He replies negatively as he walks through the living room and towards his piano seat. He sits down and begins playing a sad toned song. The sounds of thunder are heard from outside the building as he continues playing. She walks to her chair and sits, feeling pain for having Urotsuki die. Her face burns red with fury as she knows her carelessness led to her death and there is nothing she can do about it.

"I never even got to ask why me of all people…" She thinks as she listens to Masada playing.

Elsewhere, outside the building; the sounds of bells are heard faintly as Urotsuki lies still as drops of rain begin to fall. A figure approaches her and kneels before her.

"Tell me, child; who will be your successor now? That's right: Nobody." It speaks as the rainfall begins to get heavier. The bell sounds get louder as the figure vanishes from sight while a police car pulls into the parking lot and stops a few feet from the body. The door opens and an officer steps out of the vehicle to examine the body before heading back in to call in for an ambulance.


	25. Chapter 24: Refuge

Chapter 24: Refuge

Masada walks down the sidewalk wearing a thick black overcoat towards the apartment building. His nose, red and dry, feels very uncomfortable as he approaches the door and feels a sneeze coming on. He quickly presses his index finger just over his nostrils while opening the door to enter the building. Since the middle of December, he has felt very sick. With a fever of over 40.5° C, dry throat, and a head ache; he is in no mood to be stopped by Monoe, whom he sees standing in the first floor hallway.

"Hey Sensei, you don't look so well." She says.

"I've certainly seen better days." He replies, passing by without a second glance. As he approaches his apartment door and rests his hand on the door knob, he sighs before turning the knob and opening the door. He strolls to the living room and puts his coat on the back of a nearby chair before sitting down in it. Whilst suddenly coughing, knocking sounds are heard from the apartment door. He gets up and travels to the door.

Madotsuki is seen through the viewing piece and he immediately opens the door for her.

"Hi, Sensei." She greets warmly.

"I'm sorry, but I'm really ill right now. I don't want you to get sick." He says as he takes out from his pocket a napkin before loudly coughing into it. Her soft smile fades before she sadly returns a nod.

"I know you really wanted to visit me. I'm sorry, Madotsuki." He says as she turns around slowly and walks away towards the stairway, feeling rejected. He closes the door softly when she reaches halfway from the stairway. As she prepares to go up the stairs, she stops and looks to her left to see a man in a gray overcoat looking in the building door from outside. The person's familiarity strikes her and scares her enough to rush up the stairs quickly, only to trip near the fourth floor doorway.

She clumsily tries to get back onto her feet and sprints to her apartment door before opening it quickly and entering. She closes the door just as quickly and walks a few feet before turning right to her bedroom. The creaking of her floor along with the usual warm air relaxes her noticeably as she approaches her bed and climbs into it. After pulling up the covers and nuzzling comfortably up to her pillow, she falls asleep relatively quickly.

Not much later, Madotsuki feels as though she is being whisked away to another world. The ground below her doesn't feel too much like her room, despite the similarly creaky floor and warm air. She opens her eyes to find herself in a completely different bedroom. The walls are much lighter purple; the bed is toward her right side, a television is located in front of her with a nearby famicom and box containing famicom cartridges.

To her; the most interesting of them all is a computer to her left, seemingly turned on and put on sleep mode recently. She approaches the computer chair close by and sits in it before turning her attention to the monitor. Upon pressing a key, the computer tower makes its start up noises followed by processing noise prior to the monitor lighting up to reveal an even darker purple colored background screen. In the center of the computer background are four icons, most likely commands. She clicks on the floppy disk icon and seemingly opens a folder containing text files.

Before being able to open one of the files, the computer screen suddenly turns black for a brief second before the computer itself turns off. She looks to the tower and presses the power button, but doesn't hear any of the hardware turning on nor the monitor showing any signs of life. Realizing that it's fruitless, she gets out of the chair and walks to the television set to turn it on.

The glass screen lights up and shows the entirety of the room, including her, from a ceiling perspective in the center of the wall, straight above the television. Behind her shows a dark womanly figure with a black hat and dress. Red eyes emanate from where the head is expected to be. Although disturbed by such a character, Madotsuki doesn't see the figure move it all. She turns around, but doesn't find anything much to her surprise. She turns the television set off and wanders to the door to her left.

Various objects are lined horizontally along the plane of existence she has stumbled upon when going through the door. Before being able to move anywhere; the objects, including the door she exited from, vanish and the figure from before slowly walks toward her from ahead after appearing from ostensibly nowhere. At first, Madotsuki tries to run away; but she soon trips and turns around to find the figure moving much quicker than before. Before she can get back on her feet, she feels a cold hand grip her leg and clench it vigorously.

"You're not welcome here…" It speaks with a voice similar to slithering maggots before slipping through the floor, eventually bringing Madotsuki down with it. As she slips through the floor, she awakens in a cold sweat. Her heavy breathing and fast heart rate soon slow down while she recovers and sighs in relief to be back in her own bedroom. She begins to wonder whose bedroom that was and why did she get attacked by a womanly figure with a black dress and hat.

Out of curiosity, Madotsuki looks at the clock nearby and sees it read 11:44am. She hops off her bed and exits the bedroom. She walks to the apartment's kitchen and opens the nearby pantry for a brick of ramen. She opens the packet of ramen and puts it into a small pot, shortly before filling it in with some sink water and putting it on a stove burner. She begins to salivate as she sets the stove burner to high and goes through the pantry for an unopened bag of chips. The thought of pepper chips fill her mind as she opens a bag and eats the first chip she grabs.


	26. Chapter 25: Why, soup, why?

Chapter 25: Why, soup, why?

As Madotsuki gets extremely comfortable in her chair, she hears the sound of boiling water and rushes to the stove. She turns the heat down and blows into the pot to help prevent the water from boiling over while things calm down. A few seconds pass as she lets out a sigh of relief and begins walking back to her kitchen chair.

Thoughts flow through her head while climbing into her chair; ranging completely from Christmas to various theories about Urotsuki. It wasn't long before Madotsuki looks toward the kitchen and sees the clock before hopping out of her chair to get her ramen noodles. She pours the noodles into a big cup and puts the pot into the sink. The smell of the seasoning packet she opened only makes her stomach growl like a bear as she showers it over the noodles.

Remembering that she is horrible at using chop sticks, she simply grabs a fork from the nearby silverware drawer and puts it into the cup of noodles. The smell continues to make her stomach growl as she walks back to her chair. Upon setting the bowl at her spot and getting into her chair, she begins with a tangle of noodles; followed by slurping up as much noodle as she can.

Prior to swallowing her current mouthful of noodles, she begins twirling up another wad with her fork in preparation. She swallows the mouthful and stuffs the wad of noodles into her mouth without hesitation. It was only after just finishing the broth in the cup when her hunger finally sated and she felt a bit sleepier than before. She drowsily lumbers to the sink and puts her cup in it before letting out a yawn. She walks out of the kitchen and heads to her bedroom as she becomes more fatigued.

Only a measly few seconds after climbing up her bed, she instantly falls asleep. Upon quickly whisking away to the dream world, she finds herself outside of a purple door with two eye balls vertically stacked on the outside frame. Around her are severed eyeballs, pointing either east or west. She walks eastward out of curiosity and approaches an arm jutting from the ground, mindlessly grasping in the air. Somehow sensing her to be nearby, it bends toward her and continues it grasps; causing her to stop a few feet from it and stare in awe.

She turns northward and sees in the distance a supposed forest of arms, also grasping in the air. Suddenly, an idea pops into her head as she runs back quickly to one of the eye balls and picks it up. She returns to the first arm and places the eyeball into its hand. After a brief moment of confusion, the hand soon crushes the eyeball and squirts fluids out of the sides of its palm.

"That was cool..." She thinks as she turns back toward the door, only to see Urotsuki notice her and run through the door. She sprints to the door and opens it prior to examining the hub like room around her. To her right, she sees the the mechanical door shut. Assuming she has nothing to lose, she rushes to the door and opens it to see a shoe run off to a hallway leftward. The air around her feels cold and brisk, like her encounter with Yuki-onna, but the determination in her doesn't relent as she charges forth.

She makes a left turn and continues moving before looking to her right after hearing the loud buzz of a chainsaw ripping through something fleshy.

"Urotsuki! Wait!" Madotsuki cries out, but not much to her surprise doesn't hear a reply. Nevertheless, she runs southeast and sees parts of the 'fake' wall on the ground. She ventures into the hole and begins jogging up the staircase to her left. Upon entering the doorway to the next room, she hears a door slam up ahead while seeing Kyukyu rubbing the railing as usual.

"Hi, kiddo! Was that a friend of yours? She went by and into that door before I could warn her about the dangers that lurk in there!" It speaks in a high pitched voice.

"She went in there...?" She mutters to herself in shock. She soon regains her composure and rushes up the stairs. Gulping as she approaches the doorway to her left, she soon rests her hand on the knob and turns it. The room, while pushing the door open, is pitch black like her first visit through there. She bravely enters the room and closes the door, only for bright lights to shine from above and the door behind her to disappear.

Instead, she sees Sensei Masada, with a strange vicious grin on his face. He speaks in a soft, yet suspicious voice, "Madotsuki, good to see you. How have you been."

"Sensei, I just saw Urotsuki enter through the door! Did you see her too?" She asks.

"Urotsuki?" He asks in a subtle mocking voice. Madotsuki looks at him strangely before seeing a part of his face spark slightly.

"Sensei, what's going on?" She demands while equipping her knife. He lets out a short laugh before a barely noticeably bleep is heard.

"It's nothing, really." He speaks halfway before his voice sounds computerized. "I'm just glad to see you safe."

The floor they stand on changes from black to white along with the walls. A piano materializes as with a small table and two chairs. She looks around and sees it almost exactly the same as Masada's space ship interior, only with the doors replaced with additional white wall. Masada looks at her before his face starts flickering between his normal face and an empty skull.

"Sensei, a-answer me!" She yells as her voice becomes shakier.

"Nothing is- nothing is-" He replies while smoke pours from the top of his head. "Memory out of bounds error number 314. Please reboot the program or reinstall if the problem persists after rebooting. Contact your provider for assistance."

She suddenly feels herself getting light headed and looks around the room to find everything turning strange colors.

"Uro, n-nothing said can help your predicament now. All w-we can do is w-wait." Masada still speaks awkwardly, this time his eyes are bloodshot and his face is plagued with wrinkles. Suddenly, the air around them begins to heat up. Madotsuki, while looking around the room for a method of escape, takes off her shirt after a minute passes. Just as she feels all is lost, the room turns black and the room temperature returns to normal.

"Is... is it over yet?" She asks herself, only for a door to open in the distance with a faint illumination visible from her position. Slowly marching her way towards the open doorway, Madotsuki looks onward with confusion and hope. When she approaches the doorway and exits the dark chamber, she finds herself on the top of the building where she found the broom.

Before even able to sigh in relief from a familiar sight, she hears footsteps and turns around to find Poniko, who she sees with a look of concern on her face.

"Mado, are you okay? You look as though you went through hell." She curiously asks as she steps to the brown haired girl.

"I saw Sensei Masada in there and he became all weird and stuff; then the room was getting hot and finally it went black. I saw a door and went through it to find this place." Madotsuki explains, not knowing what was going on.

"Sounds strange... Monoe said something a few minutes ago before walking through that doorway back to the department store. I think she mentioned that somebody was screwing around with a computer system and she had to stop something bad from happening." Poniko states. Madotsuki looks back towards the doorway and shudders, not knowing if it truly leads to the department store or if it still leads to the strange room she just endured.

The sound of thunder is heard and the two walk into the tunnel for a few minutes before finding themselves in the department store, at the bottom end of escalator number two. Although Poniko groans in boredom as the escalator slowly brings the two girls toward the elevator room, Madotsuki quietly relaxes while resting her right arm on the railing. The soft sound of the escalator's movements nearly lulls her to sleep just before Poniko gasps from the sight of something.

"Well then... Don't mind me." She says as she attempts to pick up a 5000 yen note off the ground, but sees it slip away from her grasp. "Oh, you little fucker..."

The note flies into an open elevator door as Poniko follows it with lust in her eyes. Madotsuki initially prepares to follow Poniko, but then realizes this is a luring attempt.

"Poniko, don't follow it!" She yells.

"Don't follow yourself, I'm getting my hands on that note!" Poniko explains, just before the doors shut, followed by elevator movement sound. Thoroughly disappointed by Poniko's skepticism, she turns to her right and starts heading towards the left escalator. Unlike the first escalator, she has to manually walk down the steps like stairs for a bit before reaching the bottom.

The department store looks the same as always, with the usual dark blue walls and strange people patrolling through the various passageways aimlessly. Just as she takes a few steps off the escalator, she sees everything starting to fade out. A moment passes before she awakens and pulls the covers off herself. A quick look to her clock shows the time is 3:24pm. She climbs out of the bed and yawns before walking towards her famicom.

Her face displays a small smile as she sits down and turns on her television. The screen lights up a moment prior to her pressing the power button. A few seconds pass before the NASU title screen displays.

"Here I am again..." She thinks as her character runs toward the falling eggplant.


	27. Chapter 26: Dusk

Chapter 26: Dusk

Madotsuki walks through the open apartment exit and scratches the back of her neck softly before preparing to turn right and approach the stairs. She takes a few steps before the smell of cleaning spray is picked up and causes her to open her eyes from the potency. Despite living in the apartment building for several years, she still cannot get over the powerful stench. Nevertheless, she continues toward the stairway and soon begins going down, step by step.

Nearly a minute passes before she reaches the first floor and proceeds into the hallway. The smell of the cleaning spray isn't quite as potent as it is upstairs, but Madotsuki still smells hints of it while passing by doors until she stops at room 105. Upon gently knocking on the door twice, she looks around herself at the emptiness of the hallway prior to turning around when hearing the door open.

Monoe stands only two feet from Madotsuki and softly smirks before stepping out of the way to provide entry. She walks passed Monoe and turns her head to the left to see through the open doorway of the sisters' bedroom, still in its usual messy state. She doesn't see Monoko inside, so she continues down the hallway until she enters the living room and sees her instead in front of the television set as predicable; playing Contra 3.

"Hey, Monoko." Madotsuki greets, startling Monoko enough to nearly make her character die.

"Oh Mado, hi there!" She replies excitedly before pausing the game to get up and hug her friend. The two sit next to each other and reset the video game system to begin playing together. Monoe enters the living room and parks herself onto the couch, sighing in relief of no more school for the rest of the holidays. Her eyes close as she sprawls out on the couch and yawns before attempting to rest.

The two girls begin a session on normal mode and, Despite Madotsuki's inexperience, they manage to complete the first leveling without dieing once. They high five each other while preparing to select their starting locations for the next stage.

"I take the northwest area, you take the southeast!" Monoko says.

"Got it." Madotsuki replies, ready to play. The two begin and, after a few seconds, Madotsuki's character dies after getting hit with a stray projectile. Monoe casually snoozes on the couch for a moment before awakening from hearing someone or something knocking at the door. She gets up while the two girls continue playing and approaches the door. Inspection through the viewing piece reveals Poniko standing outside, cuing her to open the door.

"Hey Poniko." Monoe greets while rubbing her eyes.

"Monoe, we have to talk in private about something that has been bothering me for a while now..." Poniko says grimly. "It may not be entirely comfortable to listen, but it's either now or never."

Monoe raises her eyebrows as she follows Poniko outside of the apartment. Meanwhile, the screen freezes as Monoko is about to finish off the last enemy necessary to finish the stage.

"What the-? Aw... and we were doing so good, too." She says unhappily as she gets up from her spot to turn off the console. Her gut rumbles as she presses the power button and looks to Madotsuki, whom she sees staring into space while struggling to stay awake.

"I'll be back in a bit!" Monoko says while getting up onto her legs and rushing to the bathroom. Madotsuki sits still and slowly dozes off. The heating in the room is enough to make her fall asleep after a minute passes, eventually drifting comfortably into the dream world. She sees herself in a large grassy meadow, feeling an occasional breeze from ahead.

Her facial expression brightens considerably as she walks casually through the grass, feeling happy and carefree. The afternoon sun gradually approaches westward as she lays down on a round hill nearby and sprawls out on the hillside. Although in a strong state of tranquility, she feels that something doesn't feel quite right. Upon hearing the sound of a twig snapping, she immediately gets up and looks behind herself to find nobody.

Eying the area carefully for roughly thirty seconds, she cautiously lays down while still looking around for any potential threats. The ambiance, once peaceful and serene, now suggests that someone may be silently watching her. The lack of sound begins taking its toll on her for a while before she finally gets up from the hillside and starts walking through some more of the meadow.

Soon, she sees a forest to her left and walks by several trees before hearing the shuffling of bushel leaves. Her paranoia is now extremely high and she is becoming nervous. Just as all seems too calm, she picks up something moving with her left eye's peripheral vision and quickly turns her head, only to find nothing. Prior to turning her head back forward and walking past the trees, she sees a small glimmer of light from a reflective surface in a tree in the distance.

Before she can react, a toriningen suddenly bursts from the tree and continues toward her at an alarming rate. Its eyes, dark pink with blood lust, quickly lock onto her before swiping its blood crusted claws at her at a suitable enough range. Madotsuki barely dodges the slash, getting the side of her shirt nicked clean off. She quickly searches through her pockets and finds the knife. Judging by the afternoon sun being close to the horizon, the day enters dusk as she equips her blade and enters a battle stance.

The two remain still, unsure what moves to make while the the wind begins to howl. Madotsuki feels a sudden temperature drop, making her start to shiver while the Toriningen continues to stare intently, licking just the outside edges of its beak. As She prepares to strike the toriningen, she sees it jolt for a bit before attempting to fight back. Its eyes mysteriously roll to the back of its head before it loses balance and falls forward.

Although Madotsuki is pleased that the toriningen's threat no longer exists, she feels even less comforted by the sight of a small dart in the back of its neck; knowing that there maybe another predator about in the area. She turns her head toward the bushels again upon hearing more rustling, this time seeing the gray suited man's red eyes from behind a tree. He slowly moves back behind the tree and turns around a bit before he vanishes from sight. Madotsuki rushes past the bushels and approaches the tree, only to find a strange carving on the side of it with the person nowhere in sight.

Although curious about the man, her attention shifts to the carving, which reminds her of something she hasn't seen in a while, like a ghostly face of sorts. She touches the bark inside of the carving and watches dark purple lines form in the outline of the carving. The 'eyes' of the carving begin glowing red, making her uncomfortable. She steps away from the carving and eventually begins running away from the tree until she accidentally bumps into someone. When she gets up off the ground and sees the person she hit, she gasps in shock.

Monoe lies on the ground, unconscious from either the bump or something else prior to their encounter. Regardless, she looks at the body and analyzes closely for anything strange. Her eyes widen as she sees and picks up a small dart, similar to the one she found on the hostile toriningen. Just then, she feels a brutal attack to the back of her head before awakening to find herself on Monoko's bed.

"Mado, you fell asleep during Monoko's bathroom visit, so I carried you to Monoko's bed to at least make it a bit more comfortable for you." Monoe says, standing from the bedroom doorway.

"What were you and Poniko talking about?" She asks.

"It's... something you really shouldn't know about..." Monoe replies nervously whilst tapping her two index fingers together.

"Oh! I think I know what it was about! Poniko going on about being-" Monoko excitedly says until her has her mouth covered. Monoe angrily looks into the hallway before returning to Mado with a unsettled expression.

"Anyways, it's about 5pm. Your parents are most likely going to start dinner in an hour. Care to do anything else before heading back upstairs?" Monoe asks.

"More games with Monoko." She answers as she hops out of the bed and walks out of the bedroom, passing by Monoe. While passing by Madotsuki, Poniko approaches Monoe with a concerned expression.

"So... you are taking this not too awkwardly, I see?" Poniko asks while blushing.

"Poniko, it was weird that you told me all that stuff... but I'm a bit more comfortable with it now... but after getting that out of the way, care to eat out with me later on? I'm in the mood for chicken at the little restaurant down the road." Monoe asks. Poniko nods while Monoe follows her into the bedroom.

Elsewhere, Masada finishes a little bow on a long rectangular box, covered in wrapping paper. He peels a nearby sticker and puts in on the side of the box. As he grabs a dry erase marker nearby from the table, he lets out a sickly cough. He wipes his nose with his arm, only to see blood.

"Nosebleeds... man's best friend." He mutters as he writes 'To Madotsuki, From Masada' on the sticker. He puts the marker back on the table and grabs the box. He gets out of his chair and heads to the apartment door. He opens it and looks bothways in the hallway before walking towards the stairway at the left end of the hallway. His eyes starts to burn slightly as he passes by room 105.

He begins climbing the stairs and enters the fourth floor hallway. He stops by Madotsuki's apartment door and knocks on it gracefully. A moment later, her father opens the door and greets him.

"I'm just here to give her this gift." Masada explains as he hands him the present.

"So I take it this is something she'll use in class, right?" He asks.

"It will certainly preform better than the one she is currently using." Masada says. "Don't tell her about it until christmas day, please."

"I won't. It'll be a secret." He says as he closes the door. Masada smiles before coughing as he heads back the the stairway. His eyes are burning more than before, making him rub away at them until it becomes a bit more managable. He walks to the bottom and continues down the hallway of the first floor. He stops near room 105 and hears excitement from inside.

He resumes walking and soon gets to his door. He opens it and locks it shut from the inside before heading to his piano. He sits on the seat and starts playing in A minor.


	28. Chapter 27: Occurrence

Chapter 27: Occurrence

Two days pass since Madotsuki's last visit to Monoko's apartment. She grumbles incoherently while straightening her bedsheets. To her, 'making your bed' seems utterly pointless when she will most likely take a nap a bit from now and mess everything up again; but getting her mother unhappy with her isn't worth the risk. She lets out a sigh of relief as she looks at the newly straightened bedsheets.

Nothing else needs to be done as she lumbers to her ancient television set and sits down in front of it. She presses the power button to hear the usual surge of energy going through the cord and reaches to her famicom to turn its power on as well. The NASU title screen lights up after a few seconds. She presses the start button and begins her session of chasing the falling eggplants. However, after thirteen eggplants, she fails to catch the next one and loses.

Her bored demeanor remains unchanged as she tries again. Not before long, she turns off the video game system and gets up to stretch. While turning off her television set, she hears someone knocking on the apartment door. She walks out of her room and approaches the door calmly. Upon seeing Monoe through the viewing piece, she opens the door to find her holding a medium sized box.

"Hi Madotsuki. Poniko thought it would have been awkward to show up at your door, so she pretty much told me to bring this to you. Consider it an early Christmas gift." Monoe explains as she gives her the box. Madotsuki looks back at her with her eyes widened.

"Good ahead and open it. I think you'll like it." She continues. Madotsuki opens the box to find a brownish tan hat, complete with a cream colored rim around the bottom and a ball on the top; along with a light brown scarf tightly coiled up under the hat. She wraps her arms around Monoe after dropping the box onto the ground, embracing Monoe tightly.

"Thanks Monoe... You're a really good friend." Madotsuki says softly. Monoe hugs Madotsuki as well before seeing something catches her peripheral vision. She stops hugging Madotsuki and turns her head left quickly, only to miss it completely.

"Madotsuki, I have to go now... I'll catch you later." Monoe says while waving goodbye to her before heading down the stairs, utterly estranged by the sight from before. Madotsuki picks up the box containing the hat and scarf while wondering what is going on with Monoe. She walks back through the apartment door and into her room towards her desk ,where she puts the box next to her lamp.

She yawns before deciding to take a small nap. The room's warm temperature makes her feel comfortable enough to sleep on top of the covers as she climbs onto her bed and closes her eyes. Although she isn't initially whisking away to the dream world, her senses are slowly dulling as the seconds go by. Eventually, she feels the whisk occur and finds herself in a room of pure white.

Nearly a minute passes by as she slowly comes to and looks around the room, only to find herself on the bed in Masada's space ship. Soft musical notes are heard from the other room, soothing her greatly as she gets off the bed. The melody continues until Madotsuki takes her first step into the room, getting his attention immediately. She smiles at him while he stares at her cluelessly, not knowing what to say to her or what to do next.

"Sensei, it's nice to see you, instead of some weirdo imposter!" She greets him. He nods nervously before looking through the nearby window above the piano. She looks out the window as well for a moment before returning to him. She can't help but feel a little strange by the way his eyes points in opposite directions; but as long as he doesn't start talking like a computer gone wrong, she doesn't find anything truly disturbing about him.

He unexpectedly kneels down and opens up the piano from a hidden side door. Madotsuki watches him take out a small bottle, filled with liquid, and unscrew the cap. He starts drinking from it for a bit before shuttering as he puts the cap back on and places the bottle back in the compartment. She raises an eyebrow while watching him close the compartment door and return to playing more music.

Although becoming engrossed into his music, her concentration breaks when she hears stepping sounds from the exit room. She calmly walks past him and approaches the room next door, only to see nothing there; yet the sounds of rapid paced movement continue. Figuring that nothing will happen on the space ship, she exits the space ship through the next door and walks down the tunnel to the storage room. A familiar scent is picked up as she equips her knife and walks through and around the aisles. She ignores the furry mouth blob, making it whine as it slowly moves away from her sadly.

The movement sounds cease completely after she enters the next room. Despite the sudden tranquility, she feels more tense than before. Rapid tapping noises are heard from the room ahead, most likely coming from the elevator buttons. Despite her steps becoming smaller and almost silent; her heart rate increases significantly and her knife wielding hand starts shaking slightly as she presses onward, unsure of what may be ahead.

Upon entering the room with the elevator, she hears a ding and barely catches sight of a shoe before the person gets into the elevator. She rushes to the elevator as quickly as possible, only to see just a glimpse of blond hair before the doors close. The sounds of faint twisted laughter echo from within the elevator shaft. Unhappy with her inability to pursue this potential stalker, she walks to the right of the elevator until she gets to a long flight of stairs leading upward. Without immediate rail guards, she carefully begins climbing them while looking at the grasping hands nearby.

Upon reaching a certain step, she suddenly jolts awake and looks around to find herself in her bedroom. The room feels slightly different, but she nevertheless assumes to be awake while emerging from the bed. However, she notices the famicom is missing from its usual position in front of the television. Her suspicion only increases when she turns on the television and sees various Aztec figures sliding across the screen while Kalimba music plays, despite her television in real life not having any reception. Madotsuki closes her eyes and bobs her head to the tune for a few seconds before shutting off the television and realizing she is still in the dream world.

She approaches the door to her right and attempts to turn the metal knob, only to find it locked from the outside. After a few more attempts at opening the door and knocking on it, she gives up and looks around the room for something to do. She takes a few steps to her television set and turns it on, only to see Urotsuki's face empty eye sockets on the screen. She quickly presses the power button but fails to see any results as she keeps pressing it to make it go away.

The television set begins emitting a high pitch tone that seems to get increasingly louder by the second. Madotsuki covers her ears and tries to find a way out of her room, but the tone finally pierces her hands completely. Her head begins to hurt severely as her eyes tear up, hoping that it will stop soon. Just as she is about to lose her mind, everything in the room fades to black and she feels relieved. Her face displays confusion as she looks around the seemingly blank room for a second before everything flashes white.

Madotsuki awakens spontaneously and looks around her room to find the famicom next to the television set. She sighs while getting off the bed. The time being displayed on her clock nearby reads 9:30am. Sounds of rainfall are heard along with gusts of wind. Her stomach growls as she walks toward the bedroom door, eager to eat something. She exits out of the room and heads to the kitchen area, where she finds a bag of bread on the table along with a note.

"Out at the store. Also, your mother is currently at work today so she may enjoy Christmas with us. Lock the door on the way out if you leave. We don't want to be robbed like last year." She mentally reads before opening up the bag of bread and taking out two slices. She takes a bite from one of the slices before sealing up the bag and wondering into the kitchen with her slices. The bottle of whiskey catches her eye as she walks by the counter. She shifts her eyes around and, out of curiosity, grabs a cup to try out the adult beverage.

Upon pouring out a small bit of the drink into the cup, she takes a sip; only to cough from the taste and flavor along with how the drink seared her mouth a little. She vows never to try it again while she cleans out the cup with soap and water from the nearby sink. The horrible taste still lingers in her mouth as she quickly darts the fridge, opens it and pours some fruit juice into the cup shortly before consuming it quickly. Realizing that she cannot do anything about the alcohol she just drank, she continues to eat her bread slices.

However, she feels a little strange as she tries to focus. Regardless, she walks out of the kitchen and towards the apartment door, eager to visit Monoko to see how the two sisters were holding up. She soon opens the door and, after locking the door, closes it before turning right and walking towards the stairway. The smell of food catches her, causing her to salivate from such a savory scent. She lazily walks down, step by step until she reaches the first floor to see Poniko standing outside of room 105 with a warm bag of goodies.

Poniko turns around and sees Madotsuki with a hungry look in her eyes before rolling her eyes.

"Mado, these things are for Monoe and I. Go pester Monoko into getting something to eat once they let us in." Poniko says prior to deeply sniffing the contents of the bag and exhaling in pleasure from the aroma. A few seconds pass before the sounds of the doorknob being turned are heard and a moment passes before the door opens, revealing Monoko.

"Hi Mado. Hi Poniko. Come on in!" She greets happily before looking at Poniko's bag. "What'cha got for us?"

"It's breakfast for Monoe and I. I went to a cafe down the road and picked up some breakfast goodies." Poniko replies as she walks past Monoko and knocks on the sisters' bedroom door. Monoko sees Madotsuki and smiles while Poniko knocks on the door again after a few seconds pass with no response. While the two girls go past Poniko and into the living room, Poniko continues waiting outside of the sisters' bedroom door.

"Monoe, are you awake yet?" She asks politely, but still hears nothing on the other side. She finally loses her patience and attempts to open the door, only to find it locked. Remembering how shoddy the door lock is, she takes a pin out of her pocket and sets down the bag of food. She begins picking the lock on the door while muttering to herself.

The lock finally becomes undone and she presses against the door after turning the newly unlocked doorknob. She enters the room to find Monoe resting in bed, complete with her pink nightgown and bed hair. Deciding that subtlety is appropriate, she gently shakes Monoe's shoulder. Poniko watches her slowly come to and stare back at Poniko.

"Poniko, did you really have to pick the bedroom lock instead of just wake me up with noise?" She asks groggily. "I hope you have a good reason for that."

"Breakfast time, sweety. I got toasted rolls for us!" Poniko announces with excitement while handing the still-trying-to-wake-up Monoe a roll. She smiles while Poniko takes a bite out of hers.

"This is so much better than toast." She says while Monoe nods humbly, taking a bite from her roll and chewing it. Elsewhere, Monoko picks up the scent of the alcohol that Madotsuki had taken a very small drink from and stares at her weirdly.

"Mado, your breath smells strange and you're dozing off more than usual. Did you drink something you shouldn't have?" She asks, judging by not just Madotsuki's breath, but also her reduced ability to react to things in the video game they are playing. She lies by shaking her head, but Monoko doesn't seem convinced.

"Oh well. we can watch television instead of playing video games, if you would like." continuing Monoko. Madotsuki nods as the two get up and walk to the couch . Monoko picks up the remote off the nearby coffee table and turns on the television, eager to watch cartoons.


	29. Chapter 28: A Simple Visit

Chapter 28: A Simple Visit

While walking on the dark docks, Madotsuki hears the wooden planks creak along with the soothing wave noises. She makes a right turn toward a vending machine in the distance and continues traveling until she reaches a dead end. The murky dark violet water seems to bring her discomfort while she decides to look around nearby at her surroundings. She can't tell whether or not anything is going on below the surface before deciding to get a drink from the nearby vending machine. When she puts her hand into her pocket, she suddenly realizes she doesn't have enough money for a drink.

"Here, let me get you one." A voice calls out from her left. She looks around the machine and sees Monoe standing by, in a fisherman's hat, with a one hundred yen coin in one hand and a fishing rod in another. She approaches her and puts the coin into the machine and quickly taps the button to Madotsuki's favorite drink. The machine whirs for a second before a loud clunk is heard. Madotsuki reaches her hand into the compartment and takes the can from within. She opens the can and takes a sip before watching Monoe cast the fishing rod's bobble into the water.

"Have you ever fished before?" She asks Madotsuki calmly while steadily staring into the water without blinking for nearly half a minute. "It's something I think you would enjoy."

"No, I haven't." Madotsuki replies before taking another sip of her drink. Monoe continues staring quietly while a wind blows through, providing a breeze to the late spring temperature of the docks. Madotsuki joins her as she sits down and looks into the dark abyss, only to see something dark poking out of the water several yard away. Although she doesn't feel too worried about it, she looks to her right to see Monoe dozing off from the lack of action.

The object which emerged from the water begins to float towards the dock the two girls sat at. Madotsuki looks at the object and assumes it to be a bottle of some kind, closed up with a wooden cork. A minute passes before she can stretch herself from the edge of the dock and safely grab the bottle. Further examination on her part reveals that the bottle contains a small rolled up piece of paper. She pops the cork off loudly, waking up Monoe, and shakes the bottle whilst upside down in an attempt to get the paper out.

After a few seconds, the rolled up piece of paper falls out of the bottle and onto Madotsuki's lap. She puts the bottle down next to Monoe and unfurls the paper, rubbing her eyes before reading it.

"90485." She silently reads before rolling her eyes and saying to Monoe, "All this paper has is a five digit number."

"Heh. Probably from the weirdos on the volcanic island." She replies before feeling something tug at the line. At first, she starts reeling in but the force of whatever is on the line gets noticeably heavier. Monoe begins to struggle as she reels in and thinks of how big the fish she is fighting against is. Madotsuki looks at Monoe getting up from her spot at the dock's edge and slowly try walking backwards while reeling.

Suddenly, a swordfish jumps out from the water with lining in its mouth, glistening in the moonlight for a second before diving back in. Madotsuki runs behind Monoe and grabs her by the sides to help her. After nearly a minute, the fish jumps out of the water again and this time, the lining snaps. Monoe only stares in bitter defeat as the fish lands back in the water and swims away. Madotsuki watches at Monoe falls onto her knees and puts her head into her hands, letting out a pained sigh.

"I was... so close..." She says in a very low tone before sitting down and softly crying. Madotsuki sits next to Monoe and wraps her arms around her, trying to comfort her. Although still upset about the fish escaping, she smiles as Madotsuki passes her the can of drink. She presses the can to her lips and gulps down the liquid, enjoying the cherry flavor.

"At least you're still here, Mado." Monoe says as she takes her fishing hat off and gives it to Madotsuki. The second she receives the hat, it begins to glow white for a few seconds before it fades. Monoe looks at Madotsuki in confusion prior to just noticing her wearing the winter hat she obtained from her earlier today in the real world. Madotsuki feels the top of her head and touches the hat, realizing that something is covering her scalp.

She gets up and waves goodbye to Monoe before walking northward and taking a turn to the right. While walking, she looks at the nearby lanterns and quietly admires their low but pleasing lights. She feels something suddenly crash against the wooden planks from below with enough force to unsettle her completely. A few seconds pass as she slowly regains composure before continuing on her way, wondering what just happened.

The salty sea air starts to bother her eyes as she begins to rub them. Though the short term relief was satisfying, the itchy feeling continues. She soon reaches the end of the docks with nothing else but railing next to her, but the world around her starts to fade out of place and an ever increasing in volume low pitched whirlwind sound is heard. She awakens and finds herself on her bed, with the clock next to her reading 2:00pm.

The sounds of heavy rainfall continue like they did two hours ago as she slowly climbs out of the bed and rubs her eyes. The television screen on the other side of the room displays a test pattern, reminding her that she didn't turn it off before taking a nap. She walks over to the television set and presses the power button. Before walking to the bedroom door and opening it; she looks at the book case with a displeased look, specifically in the direction of where she put the journal and folder she found over four months ago.

"Stupid journal. Had I never have found it, I wouldn't be constantly thinking about Urotsuki." She thinks while exiting the bedroom and walking towards the apartment door. She opens the door and walks out a few steps before closing it. The hallway is as barren as usual as she strolls toward the stairway, still a little drowsy from her nap. When she finally approaches and begins going down the stairs, she faintly hears bits of a conversation from the first floor just outside of the stair room.

"...like to get her something along with the flute." A voice, possibly Masada's, says not very audibly. Madotsuki continues quietly down the stairs with a small grin on her face, curious of what he might be talking about.

"Be careful, Sensei. If you give her too much, she might not want to ever leave you alone again." Another voice, this time Monoe's, speaks more audibly but not by much.

"Oh well... it was nice talking to you Monoe. I hope you're enjoying the holiday season." He replies.

"Likewise, sir." Monoe says to Masada, who is already walking to his apartment door, before the sound of footsteps are heard. Madotsuki soon reaches the bottom of the stairs and catches sight of Monoe opening her apartment door. She rushes to her and gets her attention while Panting heavily.

"Hi, Mado." Monoe says after Madotsuki regains her breath.

"Hello, Monoe. What were you and Sensei talking about?" She asks curiously.

"Er... just... stuff." Monoe stammers before heading into the apartment and closing the door. Madotsuki simply stares at the door in contempt before turning slightly to her right and continues walking. She stops at room 116 and knocks on the door softly, eager to meet her favorite teacher again. After a few seconds, sounds of the door opening are heard and the door opens, revealing Masada in his black shirt and pants. The skin just below his eyes has a soft gray tone, but he otherwise looks not too bad.

"Hello, Sensei!" She greets enthusiastically before hugging him. "How are you feeling today?"

"Not quite over it yet, but I'm at least not coughing my lungs out anymore." He replies as he softly scratches her scalp.

"I heard that you might have a gift for me?" She asks, following him inside the apartment and smelling freshly brewed tea from within. He walks to his kitchen table and sits in a nearby chair shortly before sipping from a cup.

"I guess you'll just have to wait until Christmas day and find out." He says while putting his cup down. Madotsuki approaches him casually and looks into his cup. "I take it you want some tea to drink?"

"Yes, please." She softly replies while walking to a nearby chair at the table. After taking a seat, she closes her eyes and rests her head against her arms on the table. The homely cozy atmosphere makes it easy for her relax despite the sounds of glass clinking as Masada gets a cup out of the cupboard. Not before long, she begins to doze off and completely ignore anything going on around her.

She soon finds herself in Masada's dream world space ship, sitting against the floor near a wall where the door left of the piano was at before. The lack of an exit startles her, leading her to believe that she is in the hidden door of the number world. She gets up from her spot on the floor and walks a few steps while looking around the room, looking for Masada. However, she doesn't see him anywhere in sight, making her even more nervous. She approaches the doorway to the right of the piano and attempts to examine the only other room available to her.

"Sensei?" She asks herself uncomfortably while poking her head through the doorway. The bed looks as though it hasn't been used for a while and the rest of the room appears as though nothing has ever happened at all. She turns around and walks toward the table in the room. After deciding to sit in one of the chairs and contemplate what to do next, she looks at her shoes in boredom when she expectantly feels something tap on her shoulder.

Madotsuki turns around quickly while expecting Masada to be there, only to see a strange arm jutting from the ground with an eye in its palm. Its fingers, long and thick, fluidly wiggle while the hand itself stays perfectly still. She stares at the arm before becoming curious enough to touch it. To her surprise, her left hand's palm suddenly felt a single second of pain before everything returned to normal.

She looks into her hand, only to see a similar eye in her palm. She raises an eyebrow and looks at her hand for a little bit before wondering what her new hand is capable of doing. As soon as she clenched her left hand into a fist, she suddenly feels something strange as the world around her begins to turn black. While keeping her fist balled, everything still remained dark. Pondering what would happen if she opened her fist, she does so and sees that the scenery has changed considerably.

No longer is Madotsuki in Masada's space ship, but instead she finds herself at the 'nexus' room being surrounded by doors. She looks at her hand's palm and sees that the eye is gone from her hand, leading her to believe that her magical palm could only be used once before its magic fades away. She walks to a green door to her right and opens it, curious to enter the forest world. Not before long, she feels a bold chill in a sudden gust of wind. Nevertheless, she travels northeastward several dozen yards before encountering two wooden posts with a large gap in between.

Madotsuki takes only two steps through the cap and immediately, the scenery changes to a dark zone with face-like carpets strewn throughout. The area reminds her a lot of a place in the dream world she had visited before, especially the toriningen lumbering towards her from a long distance. She brandishes her knife and prepares to fight as the toriningen suddenly charges forward, eager to lay waste to its unwanted guest. Madotsuki stabs the beaked creature brutally in the chest, but becomes surprised when she sees the toriningen completely unfazed by the attack. It backhands her with incredible force and jolts her awake, startling Masada and nearly causing him to spill his tea.

"I was about to wake you up. Your tea is ready." He says calmly as he gives her a small glass cup, filled with still-warm tea. She smiles and thanks him just before sipping from the cup. He watches her quickly drink the beverage with glee before letting out a smell belch and excusing herself.

"Sensei, what are you going to do on Christmas day?" She asks him.

"Pretty much the same stuff I do when I don't teach class." He replies while looking into his cup, analyzing the ripples in his drink.

"Don't you have a family to visit or any friends?" She asks, feeling a bit curious.

"My family is a complete wreck and nobody, except you and Monoe's family, is worth hanging out with." He replies somberly.

"Oh..." She lets out of her mouth before getting out of her chair. She walks over to the kitchen sink and puts the cup in it. "Thank you for the drink and having me over."

"No problem. Enjoy the holidays." He says while expecting her to leave the apartment soon, only to feel her wrap around him and kiss him softly on the cheek. His eyes widen as she walks happily to the apartment door and opens it. He smiles softly before resting putting his cup down and resting his head in his hands as the sound of the apartment door closing is heard.

"Damned if I do, damned if I don't." He mutters as he finishes his drink and takes the cup to the sink.


End file.
